Sunday, December 6, 2020

Book Excerpt: Gentleman Jim by Mimi Matthews

She Couldn't Forget...

Wealthy squire's daughter Margaret Honeywell was always meant to marry her neighbor, Frederick Burton-Smythe, but it's bastard-born Nicholas Seaton who has her heart. Raised alongside her on her father's estate, Nick is the rumored son of notorious highwayman Gentleman Jim. When Fred frames him for theft, Nick escapes into the night, vowing to find his legendary sire. But Nick never returns. A decade later, he's long been presumed dead.

He Wouldn't Forgive...

After years spent on the continent, John Beresford, Viscount St. Clare has finally come home to England. Tall, blond, and dangerous, he's on a mission to restore his family's honor. If he can mete out a bit of revenge along the way, so much the better. But he hasn't reckoned for Maggie Honeywell. She's bold and beautiful--and entirely convinced he's someone else.

As danger closes in, St. Clare is torn between love and vengeance. Will he sacrifice one to gain other? Or, with a little daring, will he find a way to have them both?



 
Welcome to the final stop of the Gentleman Jim blog tour! I'm thrilled to be offering an excerpt of this intriguing new novel by Mimi Matthews, available below. Prior to my post, three other blog stops featured passages from the novel. If you'd like to read them first, they can be found here:

  • Silver Petticoat Reviews  (Chapter Two, pp. 33-36)

  • My Jane Austen Book Club (Chapter Three, pp. 38-41)

  • Gwendalyn's Books (Chapter Three, pp. 47-50)

  • The entire tour featured dozens of other stops, with reviews and interviews as well. Here is the full listing, if you'd like to stop by them all!


    BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE: 

    Nov 09           Relz Reviewz (Character Spotlight)

    Nov 09           Life of Literature (Review)

    Nov 09           Austenprose—A Jane Austen Blog (Review)

    Nov 10           Savvy Verse and Wit (Interview)

    Nov 10           Greenish Bookshelf (Review)

    Nov 11           Library of Clean Reads (Review)

    Nov 11           Silver Petticoat Reviews (Excerpt)

    Nov 12           Bookworm Lisa (Review)

    Nov 12           Heidi Reads (Review)

    Nov 13           Lu's Reviews (Review)

    Nov 14           The Green Mockingbird (Review)

    Nov 15           Bookish Rantings (Review)

    Nov 15           The Lit Bitch (Review)

    Nov 16           The Historical Fiction Reader (Review)

    Nov 16           Austenesque Reviews (Review)

    Nov 17           Inkwell Inspirations (Review)

    Nov 17           Robin Loves Reading (Review)

    Nov 18           Christian Chick's Thoughts (Review)

    Nov 18           My Jane Austen Book Club (Excerpt)

    Nov 19           Laura's Reviews (Review)

    Nov 20           Jorie Loves a Story (Spotlight)

    Nov 20           Foxes and Fairy Tales (Review)

    Nov 21           Gwendalyn's Books (Excerpt)

    Nov 22           Romantically Inclined Reviews (Review)

    Nov 22           Book Confessions of an Ex-Ballerina (Review)

    Nov 22           Vesper's Place (Spotlight)

    Nov 23           Fiction Aficionado (Review)

    Nov 23           Historical Fiction with Spirit (Review)

    Nov 24           Let Them Read Books (Interview)

    Nov 25           The Caffeinated Bibliophile (Review)

    Nov 25           So Little Time… (Spotlight)

    Nov 27           Among the Reads (Review)

    Nov 28           Chicks, Rogues and Scandals (Review)

    Nov 29           Book Bustle (Review)

    Nov 30           Cup of Tea with that Book Please (Review)

    Dec 01           Nurse Bookie (Review)

    Dec 02           Confessions of a Book Addict (Review)

    Dec 02           Impressions in Ink (Review)

    Dec 03           From Pemberley to Milton (Review)

    Dec 04           Relz Reviewz (Review)

    Dec 04           Rosanne E. Lortz (Review)

    Dec 05           Encouraging Words from the Tea Queen (Review)

    Dec 05           Probably at the Library (Review)








    Exclusive Book Excerpt from Gentleman Jim (Chapter Four, pp. 56-59)


        Maggie’s smile faded. “Gossip? What gossip?”

        Jane’s eyes narrowed at her brother. “Yes, George. Exactly what are you talking about?”

        “That’s the very thing I’ve come to tell you. I was out riding this morning in the park. I’ve bought a new gelding, Miss Honeywell. A prime goer. Not unlike that blood chestnut you had back when—” He broke off at a stern look from his sister. “Yes. Quite. As I was saying, I was out in the park this morning. All the fellows were talking about it. It’s not quite the thing to speak about in front of ladies, but I daresay Jane has already told you—”

        “Yes, yes. She knows about the duel.” Jane waved him on with an impatient hand. “What did you hear?”

        Maggie leaned forward in her chair, her attention fixed on Jane’s brother. St. Clare had promised not to hurt Fred. And he’d given her no reason to doubt his word. It had all seemed to be settled.

        “A lot of the gents in the park were present at the duel,” George went on between bites of his plum cake. “I wish I’d been! There’s not many who’ve seen St. Clare shoot, excepting Lord Vickers and Lord Mattingly. They traveled a bit with him on his grand tour, you know, and they said he was as deadly as all the rest of the Beresfords. Not that St. Clare’s reputation meant a thing to Burton-Smythe. But then, as I told Vickers, Burton-Smythe’s so full of self-importance that it would never even occur to him that any man could best him.”

        “Oh, go on!” Jane demanded.

        “Well, the short of it is, the handkerchief was dropped and Burton-Smythe fired. His shot went a touch wide. Nearly singed the viscount’s sleeve, I heard. And St. Clare didn’t even flinch! Just stood there and without batting an eye, fired a bullet straight through Burton-Smythe’s shoulder.”

        Maggie’s mouth fell open. “St. Clare shot Fred?”

        “To be sure, he did, but that’s not even the best part.” George’s eyes were bright with excitement as he entered into the spirit of the tale. “Burton-Smythe was lying on the ground with the surgeon kneeling over him, and St. Clare walks up to him as cool as you please and says, ‘Let this be a lesson to you, my good man. If you’re going to act the brutish country squire, best stay in the country.’ And then he leapt into his curricle and drove off.” George laughed appreciatively. “If that don’t beat all!”

        Maggie felt a sickening flicker of dread in her stomach. One didn’t have to be killed outright in order to die from a gunshot wound. Why, if Fred’s shoulder festered, he could expire within the week! And then what was she to do? “Where is Fred now? Is he all right? Oh, Jane… Do you suppose I should go to him?”

        “I say, Miss Honeywell, don’t put yourself into a taking,” George said. “Burton-Smythe is holed up at his lodgings. He’s not hurt too badly—the bullet went clean through—but I hear he’s in as foul a mood as anyone ever saw him. You’d be wise to leave him be for a while.” George cleared his throat, giving an uncomfortable tug at his cravat. “Besides that, there’s some who already think you have an agreement of some sort with Burton-Smythe—”

        “Indeed, I do not!” Maggie objected.

        “—and if you arrive at his lodgings to nurse him through his injury you may as well put a notice of your betrothal in the paper.”

        “Is that the subject of the gossip you mentioned?” Jane asked. “Well, is it?”

        George groaned. “You know how things are. It’ll begin with a few old tabbies stopping Miss Honeywell in Bond Street to ask after Burton-Smythe’s health and end with all of the ton saying that the duel was fought over her honor.” He shook his head in disgust. “Some of the fellows are already talking. Wouldn’t you know it, that infernal gabster Beauchamp was at the duel, and by the time I arrived at the park, he was already there, telling the other gents how Burton-Smythe and St. Clare had looked as if they hated each other, and how he’d give a monkey to know what the duel had really been about. ‘No doubt it’s a woman,’ he says. What a heap of rubbish. Everyone knows they fell out over a game of cards.”



    About the Author


    USA Today
    bestselling author Mimi Matthews writes both historical nonfiction and award-winning proper Victorian romances. Her novels have received starred reviews in Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus, and her articles have been featured on the Victorian Web, the Journal of Victorian Culture, and in syndication at BUST Magazine. In her other life, Mimi is an attorney. She resides in California with her family, which includes a retired Andalusian dressage horse, a Sheltie, and two Siamese cats. Her next romance, The Siren of Sussex, will be out in 2022 from Berkley/Penguin Random House.









    Paperback

    Kindle

    Saturday, October 3, 2020

    Book Review: The Lost Queen by Signe Pike

    Compared to Outlander and The Mists of Avalon, this thrilling first novel of a debut trilogy reveals the untold story of Languoreth—a forgotten queen of sixth-century Scotland—twin sister of the man who inspired the legend of Merlin. 

    I write because I have seen the darkness that will come. Already there are those who seek to tell a new history...

    In a land of mountains and mist, tradition and superstition, Languoreth and her brother Lailoken are raised in the Old Way of their ancestors. But in Scotland, a new religion is rising, one that brings disruption, bloodshed, and riot. And even as her family faces the burgeoning forces of Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons, bent on colonization, are encroaching from the east. When conflict brings the hero Emrys Pendragon to her father’s door, Languoreth finds love with one of his warriors. Her deep connection to Maelgwn is forged by enchantment, but she is promised in marriage to Rhydderch, son of a Christian king. As Languoreth is catapulted into a world of violence and political intrigue, she must learn to adapt. Together with her brother—a warrior and druid known to history as Myrddin—Languoreth must assume her duty to fight for the preservation of the Old Way and the survival of her kingdom, or risk the loss of them both forever.

    Based on new scholarship, this tale of bravery and conflicted love brings a lost queen back to life—rescuing her from obscurity, and reaffirming her place at the center of one of the most enduring legends of all time.




    Due to my love of the Outlander series and an enduring interest in Arthurian legend, The Lost Queen meets multiple qualifications for my reading list. In recent years I have learned of my family’s ties to Scotland, in particular my relation to Robert the Bruce (and there are more than one of those fellows). So taking a peek through the window of history into a country with familial ties is intriguing. Author Signe Pike is a highly educated writer in the arena of British history, in particular the role that Scotland plays in the story of Uther Pendragon and his advisor Merlin. She brings this knowledge to bear in the opening volume of a trilogy, The Lost Queen. 

    The titular character is Languoreth, a historical Scottish queen who has been somewhat “lost” to antiquity. We meet her as a young girl, long before she is wed and witness her development as a youthful twin sister to brother Lailoken, growing to a young maiden, then to a mother with many concerns weighing upon her heart. Languoreth is surrounded by a varied cast of characters: from family members, villains, spiritual advisers and men who covet her heart. Her journey as a woman involves political intrigue, religious conflict and romantic entanglement. This first novel of the trilogy concludes on the eve of the dawning of a new chapter in her life, one that seems to bear destruction and disgrace for many whom she loves. 

    The comparisons to Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander are not unreasonable, but Pike’s writing and focus are much different than Gabaldon’s. The romantic element is far less pronounced, and there is more emphasis on druidic traditions than the time travel “magic” seen in the Outlander series.  Religious conflict is a major theme of the novel, and unfortunately the Christians seen within this narrative are rarely Christlike in their manners. As a Christian myself, I dislike this type of personification of “believers”, as they are most likely not believers at all, but those who would use the name of Christ to achieve their political ends. In today’s culture, it’s all too easy to see the same in some of our leaders, which makes the portrayal of characters like Mungo all the more difficult to read. I acknowledge that “men of the cloth” such as he have existed for millennia, but it’s a shame that some of the worst behaviors in The Lost Queen are seen in the church. For the Christian reading The Lost Queen, it is important to keep in mind that this is merely one perspective of history. As Pike mentions in her post-novel note, history is fluid. I would agree that it is fluid in that we are almost constantly receiving new information about the past, data that alters our view of events from centuries gone by. The perspective of The Lost Queen is very much from the view of the druid, and is very sympathetic to it. As I have a firm hand on my own beliefs, I am able to read this narrative in the same way that I do when reading Outlander. My faith may be different from the characters in the novel, but I can still enjoy the journey of Languoreth, Lailoken and the others. 

    Aside from the religious-themed conflicts, The Lost Queen also deals with political alliances, loyalties and the threat of war. Languoreth finds herself in the midst of a love triangle, and must make difficult decisions and sacrifices for the sake of her family. Should she merely follow her heart, the repercussions could spell disaster for many whom she loves. Although she is a woman of strong temperament, her standing in society is still affected by the powerful men surrounding her. 

    I did enjoy The Lost Queen, and do plan to continue with the series as the story continues in The Forgotten Kingdom. Signe Pike has done fine work in capturing a certain perspective of 6th century Scotland, with well-drawn, captivating characters and thoroughly researched writing. In this new series the legacies of Languoreth, Merlin and Uther Pendragon have been given a particular Scottish (and presumably accurate) slant, one that I look forward to taking in as the trilogy continues. There is more to the Arthurian legend than I realized, and The Lost Queen is an entertaining beginning to a new retelling.



    Book Trailer for The Lost Queen





    About the Author


    Signe Pike was born in born in Ithaca, NY, and graduated from Cornell University with her Bachelor of Science in Communication.  

    She worked as an acquisitions editor at Random House and then Penguin, before leaving to write her first book, Faery Tale: One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World. Pike has spent the past ten years researching and writing about Celtic history, myth, folklore and tradition. Her love of history, the great outdoors, early medieval and ancient archeology, and her dedication to historical accuracy has made her social media feeds an informative delight to her readers. 

    Signe teaches seminars and workshops internationally on writing and publishing, as well as on folklore and tradition. Her writing has been published by Salon, Charleston City Paper, Book Riot and NPR.org. 


    Connect with Signe Pike



     


    Tuesday, August 18, 2020

    Book Review: The Gentleman Spy by Erica Vetsch

    He only wanted a duchess for a day―but she's determined to make it a marriage for life.

    When his father and older brother suddenly pass away, the new Duke of Haverly is saddled with a title he never expected to bear. To thwart the plans of his scheming family, the duke impulsively marries a wallflower. After all, she's meek and mild; it should be easy to sequester her in the country and get on with his life―as a secret agent for the Crown.

    But his bride has other ideas. She's determined to take her place not only as his duchess but as his wife. As a duchess, she can use her position to help the lowest of society―the women forced into prostitution because they have no skills or hope. Her endeavors are not met favorably in society, nor by her husband who wishes she'd remain in the background as he ordered.

    Can the duke succeed in relegating her to the sidelines of his life? When his secrets are threatened with exposure, will his new wife be an asset or a liability?




    The Gentleman Spy
    is the second title in the Serendipity & Secrets series by Erica Vetsch. The narrative picks up shortly after the conclusion of events seen in The Lost Lieutenant, which I enjoyed and reviewed recently. The titular character of this subsequent volume, Marcus Haverly does have a moderate role in the previous work, and events from Lieutenant are referred to on multiple occasions. Similarly, characters such as the aforementioned Lieutenant Evan Eldridge, his wife and other returning characters make appearances in The Gentleman Spy. All this is to say that although this second title is somewhat stand-alone, readers will likely enjoy it more if they take the time to read The Lost Lieutenant first. 

    Although the title of the novel seems to indicate that the main focus will be on Marcus Haverly, in my opinion, a greater amount of time is actually spent with his bride, Charlotte Tiptree. Although her parents brought her up in a way that kept her highly sheltered, she has a strong desire for education and reading, becoming somewhat of a closeted bluestocking, as her parents frowned upon much of her intellectual pursuits. Charlotte’s desire for education is tied to her yearning for significance, which unexpectedly leads her into charitable work with women trapped in the sex trafficking industry. This shady world of secrets and crime has surprising ties to Marcus’ work as a secret agent, and their worlds collide as events transpire which threaten to dismantle his carefully compartmentalized life. 

    My feelings about The Gentleman Spy are a bit conflicted. I enjoyed Charlotte’s plotline, as I liked her character and appreciated her quest to liberate streetwalking women, as well as her drive to achieve true intimacy with a man who married her on a whim. At the same time, with the espionage-tinged title, I had hoped for a bit more “cloak and dagger” content from Marcus’ side of the story. I’m not sure how that would have been accomplished, but perhaps there could have been a flashback to his earlier days as a spy-in-training, or a bit more of an explanation as to how he developed his alter ego, the secretive “Hawk”. I think a more apt title for the novel would have been The Gentleman Spy’s Wife, but that’s a bit of a mouthful. 

    That caveat aside, this second title in the Serendipity & Secrets series was an enjoyable one, with intrigue, romance, interesting characters, and an explosive final act that was quite the page-turner. As a part of the Christian fiction genre, the content of The Gentleman Spy is quite modest, with no colorful language, and the romantic scenes are kept to a “sweet” level. The faith of the main characters does come into play several times throughout the story, but it is not mentioned on every page. There is a death of a character that is very dramatic, but it is warranted, given the circumstances. The prostitutes in the story also experience abuse, but the reader is given details of the after-effects, the physical and emotional wounds that the women must endure. As such, perhaps the appropriate audience for the novel would be mid-teenage on up. 

    The character development of Marcus reminds me of the booklet story My Heart, Christ's Home by Robert B Munger, wherein the subject of the tale exhibits a compartmentalization of his faith, allowing Christ into some corners of his "home", yet keeping him from others. Marcus has similar lessons to learn in The Gentleman Spy, as his relationship to God and his relationship with his spouse really can't be as "locked away" as he would like them to be. 

    Erica Vetsch has again brought to her readers a charming tale of Regency society, love, adventure and faith. With likable (and despicable) characters, well-researched historical writing and thoughtful plotting, The Gentleman Spy is a fine follow-up to its predecessor. I am pleased that a third volume, The Indebted Earl, is in the works for the near future. I look forward to re-entering the world of Serendipity & Secrets, and expect to enjoy the next title as I have the first two in the series.




    Want to read the first two chapters of The Lost Lieutenant?
    Get the PDF here!



     


    About the Author

    Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling and ACFW Carol Award–winning author. She is a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota with her husband, who she claims is both her total opposite and soul mate.   

    Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. A self-described history geek, she has been planning her first research trip to England.

    Connect with Erica Vetsch

    Author Website 

    Facebook 

    Instagram 

    Pinterest

    Goodreads

    Publisher





    SERENDIPITY & SECRETS GIVEAWAY!!

    Kregel Publications is offering an excellent prize pack! Not only does the winner receive the first two books in the Serendipity & Secrets series, but lots of fun swag as well!   See the widget below to enter. Contest ends today, August 18th. 







    Friday, August 7, 2020

    Book Review: The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch

    He's doing what he can to save the Prince Regent's life . . . but can he save his new marriage as well?

    Evan Eldridge never meant to be a war hero--he just wanted to fight Napoleon for the future of his country. And he certainly didn't think that saving the life of a peer would mean being made the Earl of Whitelock. But when the life you save is dear to the Prince Regent, things can change in a hurry.

    Now Evan has a new title, a manor house in shambles, and a stranger for a bride, all thrust upon him by a grateful ruler. What he doesn't have are all his memories. Traumatized as a result of his wounds and bravery on the battlefield, Evan knows there's something he can't quite remember. It's important, dangerous--and if he doesn't recall it in time, will jeopardize not only his marriage but someone's very life.

    Readers who enjoy Julie Klassen, Carolyn Miller, and Kristi Ann Hunter will love diving into this brand-new Regency series filled with suspense, aristocratic struggles, and a firm foundation of faith.

     


    In advance of my upcoming review of The Gentleman Spy by Erica Vetsch, I thought I’d read the preceding novel in her Serendipity & Secrets series, The Lost Lieutenant. Set in Regency-era England, with a cast of characters that would have been quite at home in a novel by Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer or Julie Klassen, The Lost Lieutenant was a fine introduction into a new series. The novel’s main character, Lieutenant Evan Eldridge is a brave and honorable man, willing to defend the honor of his country, as well as his family. (I had in mind characters such as Ross Poldark, Jamie Fraser or Horatio Hornblower.) As he struggles with post-war PTSD, he is thrust into a marriage relationship with a woman he hardly knows. Likewise, his new bride Diana Seaton carries emotional scars of her own, having lived with a temperamental, uncaring and sometimes violent father. Due to the whims of the Prince Regent, she finds herself wedded to a virtual stranger and protecting several secrets for the sake of someone she loves. This leads to much surreptitious, tension-building choices on her part. Like her new husband Evan, Diana is a woman of Christian faith and has no inherent desire to deceive, but due to villainous forces in her life, she feels compelled to share half-truths and commit lies of omission. As Evan and Diana try to make the best of their situation, pressure builds as they attempt to navigate the many demands of the Prince Regent as well as deal with other antagonistic forces.

    The Lost Lieutenant was a fast, enjoyable read. As a novel in the Christian fiction genre, conservative readers can rest assured that the content fits well for the category. Author Erica Vetsch is able to convey peril, excitement and romance without copious amounts of gratuitous material. I can say that there are numerous careful references to marital relations, so perhaps the book would be appropriate for older teens on up, but it’s very chaste compared to what most see in movies and television programs these days. And while it’s not pervasive, the Christian faith of the main characters is referred to enough to make it clear what their beliefs are, but I would not say that the main goal of The Lost Lieutenant is to evangelize. The faith of the characters is living and active, but the main focus of the narrative is the plot and character development.   

    I thoroughly enjoyed the personalities in the story. Evan and Diana were very likable, as were their friends and military associates. On more than one occasion I was laughing out loud at some of the moments. Scenes of romance were touching and realistic, certainly not of the bodice-ripping type, but delectable all the same. The antagonists in The Lost Lieutenant were distasteful enough for me to dislike them, without being so over-the-top as to be mustache-twirling. Although their ultimate fates seemed a bit predictable, I did enjoy the literary ride that Mrs. Vetsch took her readers on to arrive at the conclusion. Her depiction of Evan’s PTSD symptoms and Diana’s pre-marriage domestic struggles felt sincere and authentic as well.

    The Lost Lieutenant, while very much tied up with a tidy, neat bow by the end of the tale, was an enjoyable gift to readers of Erica Vetsch. I found it easy to disregard other entertainment options during the days I was reading it. The fact that there are more books to come in this world that Vetsch has created is a pleasant thought. I look forward to diving into the next book, The Gentleman Spy. Look for that review on The Calico Critic on August 18th.


    Want to read the first two chapters of The Lost Lieutenant?  
    Get the PDF here!

     


    About the Author

    Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling and ACFW Carol Award–winning author. She is a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota with her husband, who she claims is both her total opposite and soul mate.   

    Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. A self-described history geek, she has been planning her first research trip to England.

    Connect with Erica Vetsch

    Author Website 

    Facebook 

    Instagram 

    Pinterest

    Goodreads

    Publisher





    SERENDIPITY & SECRETS GIVEAWAY!!

    Kregel Publications is offering an excellent prize pack! Not only does the winner receive the first two books in the Serendipity & Secrets series, but lots of fun swag as well!   See the widget below to enter.  Also, at the time of this post's publication, The Lost Lieutenant is on sale for $4.99 on Kindle. See the affiliate link below the giveaway widget, and start the series today!









    Tuesday, August 4, 2020

    Book Review and Excerpt: The Day Lincoln Lost by Charles Rosenberg

    An inventive historical thriller that reimagines the tumultuous presidential election of 1860, capturing the people desperately trying to hold the nation together – and those trying to crack it apart.


    Abby Kelley Foster arrived in Springfield, Illinois with the fate of the nation on her mind. Her fame as an abolitionist speaker had spread west and she knew that her first speech in the city would make headlines. One of the residents reading those headlines would be none other than the likely next President of the United States.

    Abraham Lincoln, lawyer and presidential candidate, knew his chances of winning were good. All he had to do was stay above the fray of the slavery debate and appear the voice of compromise until the people cast their votes. The last thing he needed was a fiery abolitionist appearing in town. When her speech sparks violence, leading to her arrest and a high-profile trial, he suspects that his political rivals have conspired against him.

    President James Buchanan is one such rival. As his term ends and his political power crumbles, he gathers his advisors at the White House to make one last move that might derail Lincoln’s campaign, steal the election, and throw America into chaos.

    A fascinating historical novel and fast-paced political thriller of a nation on the cusp of civil war, The Day Lincoln Lost offers an unexpected window into one of the most consequential elections in our country’s history.



    Alternative retellings are a staple of my reading habits, usually in the form of Austenesque fiction. In the case of the novel The Day Lincoln Lost by Charles Rosenberg, I was drawn to the notion of a new history of the election of 1860, the fate of Abraham Lincoln, and by association, the fate of the United States. The inclusion of abolitionist Abby Kelley Foster was also a strong draw. 

    The Day Lincoln Lost opens strongly, if not heart wrenchingly, as is evidenced in Chapter One, offered below this review. With modern American society once again in the midst of social upheaval over race issues, the injustices that have been perpetuated over the generations are at the forefront of my mind. This made the plight of twelve year-old escaped slave Lucy Battelle that much more riveting, as I was rooting for her liberation and for the failure of her vile pursuers. I very much enjoyed the characters that Rosenberg brings to the story, in particular the aforementioned Lincoln and Foster, but also investigator Annabelle Carter and newspaper journalist Clarence Artemis. Annabelle is on a quest to find Lucy in order to help her, and Clarence searches for the girl as well, in order to gain exclusive information to bolster his fledgling newspaper. I loved Abby Kelley Foster’s spirit, with her unquenchable desire to promote the Abolitionist cause. Abraham Lincoln’s perspective was interesting, as he did not approve of slavery, but as a presidential candidate, did not want to come out too strongly against it, lest he alienate a large portion of the electorate and lose their votes. The balancing act that he was required to achieve must have been so difficult. Assuming that the general facts Rosenberg shares with his readers are true (aside from the reworked narrative), it makes me appreciate our former president even more. 

    Approximately halfway into the novel, the story shifts to the courtroom. Foster is on trial, accused to inciting a mob that not only allowed Lucy Battelle to escape, but also led to the death of her so-called owner. Mrs. Foster had merely been giving a motivational speech one evening, but the charges against her indicated that her words encouraged the mob’s illegal actions (a charge I found to be dubious at best). A large portion of the book then remained in the courtroom, and my interest level began to drop precipitously. Rosenberg clearly knows the ins and outs of the legal world (his pedigree is very impressive), and his readers are given quite a bit of the procedures and the strategies involved in trying a case such as this one in the 19th century. While I know that much of what was covered in the courtroom was necessary to show why the jury came to the decision that they did, I found this large portion of the book to be tedious and dry. Any time the text returned to actions outside the courtroom (such as with Annabelle and/or Clarence), my interest perked up again. The same can also be said for the story after conclusion of the trial. Not long after the verdict was rendered, the election of 1860 is held. I will withhold the particulars of what happens during that period, but I felt that the plot was mired down in electoral law, vote counting and Constitutional procedures. By the conclusion of the book, I was relieved that it was over.

    Author Charles Rosenberg is very talented, and has the capacity to keep this reader interested. When focused on narrative and not legal/electoral procedures, he writes very well. He could stand some improvement in the area of romantic storytelling, but that was not the main focus of this work. I give my hearty approval to the first half of The Day Lincoln Lost. It was very enjoyable. The book as a whole has little to no colorful language, any romantic content is very chaste, and the most difficult material is in the area of the slave trade, which was at times hard to read, but I feel was important to include. Unfortunately, the second half of the novel lost my interest. I wouldn’t call my review a “non-endorsement”, but would say that those who enjoy large amounts of legal content would certainly find The Day Lincoln Lost interesting. If legal procedure is not to your taste, you may want to look elsewhere for literary diversion.  




    Book Excerpt:  Chapter One of The Day Lincoln Lost

    Kentucky

    Early August, 1860

    Lucy Battelle’s birthday was tomorrow. She would be twelve. Or at least that was what her mother told her. Lucy knew the date might not be exact, because Riverview Plantation didn’t keep close track of when slaves were born. Or when they died, for that matter. They came, they worked and they went to their heavenly reward. Unless, of course, they were sold off to somewhere else.

    There had been a lot of selling-off of late. The Old Master, her mother told her, had at least known how to run a plantation. And while their food may have been wretched at times, there had always been enough. But the Old Master had died years before Lucy was born. His eldest son, Ezekiel Goshorn, had inherited Riverview.

    Ezekiel was cruel, and he had an eye for young black women, although he stayed away from those who had not yet developed. Lucy has seen him looking at her of late, though. She was thin, and very tall for her age—someone had told her she looked like a young tree—and when she looked at herself naked, she could tell that her breasts were beginning to come. “You are pretty,” her mother said, which sent a chill through her.

    Whatever his sexual practices, Goshorn had no head for either tobacco farming or business, and Riverview was visibly suffering for it, and not only for a shortage of food. Lucy could see that the big house was in bad need of painting and other repairs, and the dock on the river, which allowed their crop to be sent to market, looked worse and worse every year. By now it was half-falling-down. Slaves could supply the labor to repair things, of course, but apparently Goshorn couldn’t afford the materials.

    Last year, a blight had damaged almost half the tobacco crop. Goshorn had begun to sell his slaves south to make ends meet.

    In the slave quarter, not a lot was really known about being sold south, except that it was much hotter there, the crop was harder-to-work cotton instead of tobacco and those who went didn’t come back. Ever.

    Several months earlier, two of Lucy’s slightly older friends had been sold, and she had watched them manacled and put in the back of a wagon, along with six others. Her friends were sobbing as the wagon moved away. Lucy was dry-eyed because then and there she had decided to escape.

    Others had tried to escape before her, of course, but most had been caught and brought back. When they arrived back, usually dragged along in chains by slave catchers, Goshorn—or one of his five sons—had whipped each of them near to death. A few had actually died, but most had been nursed back to at least some semblance of health by the other slaves.

    Lucy began to volunteer to help tend to them—to feed them, put grease on their wounds, hold their hands while they moaned and carry away the waste from their bodies. Most of all, though, she had listened to their stories—especially to what had worked and what had failed.

    One thing she had learned was that they used hounds to pursue you, and that the hounds smelled any clothes you left behind to track you. One man told her that another man who had buried his one pair of extra pants in the woods before he left—not hard to do because slaves had so little—had not been found by the dogs.

    Still another man said a runaway needed to take a blanket because as you went north, it got colder, especially at night, even in the summer. And you needed to find a pair of boots that would fit you. Lucy had tried on her mother’s boots—the ones she used in the winter—and they fit. Her mother would find another pair, she was sure.

    The hard thing was the Underground Railroad. They had all heard about it. They had even heard the masters damning it. Lucy had long understood that it wasn’t actually underground and wasn’t even a railroad. It was just people, white and black, who helped you escape—who fed you, hid you in safe houses and moved you, sometimes by night, sometimes under a load of hay or whatever they had that would cover you.

    The problem was you couldn’t always tell which ones were real railroaders and which ones were slave catchers posing as railroaders. The slaves who came back weren’t much help about how to tell the difference because most had guessed wrong. Lucy wasn’t too worried about it. She had not only the optimism of youth, but a secret that she thought would surely help her.

    Tonight was the night. Over the past few days she had dug a deep hole in the woods where she could bury her tiny stash of things that might carry her smell. For weeks before that, she had foraged and dug for mushrooms in the woods, and so no one seemed to pay much mind to her foraging and digging earlier that day. As she left, she planned to take the now-too-small shift she had secretly saved from last year’s allotment—her only extra piece of clothing—along with her shoes and bury them in the hole. That way the dogs could not take her smell from anything left behind. She would take the blanket she slept in with her.

    She had also saved up small pieces of smoked meat so that she had enough—she hoped—to sustain her for a few days until she could locate the Railroad. She dropped the meat into a small cloth bag and hung it from a string tied around her waist, hidden under her shift.

    Her mother had long ago fallen asleep, and the moon had set. Even better, it was cloudy and there was no starlight. Lucy put on her mother’s boots, stepped outside the cabin and looked toward the woods.

    As she started to move, Ezekiel Goshorn appeared in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere, along with two of his sons and said, “Going somewhere, Lucy?”

    “I’m just standing here.”

    “Hold out your arms.”

    “Why?”

    “Hold out your arms!”

    She hesitated but finally did as he asked, and one of his sons, the one called Amasa, clamped a pair of manacles around her wrists. “We’ve been watching you dig in the woods,” he said. “Planning a trip perhaps?”

    Lucy didn’t answer.

    “Well, we have a little trip to St. Louis planned for you instead.”

    As Ezekiel pushed her along, she turned to see if her mother had been awakened by the noise. If she had, she hadn’t come out of the cabin. Probably afraid. Lucy had been only four the first time she’d seen Ezekiel Goshorn flog her mother, and that was not the last time she’d been forced to stand there and hear her scream.




    About the Author

    Charles Rosenberg is the author of the legal thriller Death on a High Floor and its sequels. The credited legal consultant to the TV shows LA Law, Boston Legal, The Practice, and The Paper Chase, he was also one of two on-air legal analysts for E! Television’s coverage of the O.J. Simpson criminal and civil trials. He teaches as an adjunct law professor at Loyola Law School and has also taught at UCLA, Pepperdine and Southwestern law schools. He practices law in the Los Angeles area.


    Connect with Charles Rosenberg:

























    Tuesday, July 28, 2020

    Book Review: Crossings by Alex Landragin

    Crossings is an unforgettable and explosive genre-bending debut--a novel in three parts, designed to be read in two different directions, spanning a hundred and fifty years and seven lifetimes.

    On the brink of the Nazi occupation of Paris, a German-Jewish bookbinder stumbles across a manuscript called Crossings. It has three narratives, each as unlikely as the next. And the narratives can be read one of two ways: either straight through or according to an alternate chapter sequence. The first story in Crossings is a never-before-seen ghost story by the poet Charles Baudelaire, penned for an illiterate girl. Next is a noir romance about an exiled man, modeled on Walter Benjamin, whose recurring nightmares are cured when he falls in love with a storyteller who draws him into a dangerous intrigue of rare manuscripts, police corruption, and literary societies. Finally, there are the fantastical memoirs of a woman-turned-monarch whose singular life has spanned seven generations. With each new chapter, the stunning connections between these seemingly disparate people grow clearer and more extraordinary. Crossings is an unforgettable adventure full of love, longing and empathy.



    Some stories almost warrant a complete blackout of information before experiencing them. I tend to employ this tactic when a new movie is being released by a filmmaker or actor whom I particularly enjoy, who are artists that I trust to bring quality performances with entertaining narratives. I eschew watching their movie trailers, or in the case of novels, I also avoid critical reviews before reading the books myself. Sometimes arriving to a story with a veritable mental blank slate can encourage an element of discovery or surprise as one watches (or reads) the tale unfolding before them. This is not to say that I am undiscerning in my choices, but there are some cases in which I am willing to go in a bit blind to what is ahead.

    For the novel Crossings by Alex Landragin, the extent of my knowledge of his work was only the plot summary reprinted above. Crossings sounded almost like a time-travel story, and the multiple methods of reading the book sounded very intriguing. The publisher graciously granted me a digital advanced copy for review. As I began the first pages, a sense of speculation and expectation took root, and I suddenly began to wonder if this could possibly be the novel my mind had been looking forward to, possibly for decades. I have had a handful of experiences while reading novels that I would describe as like “going down the rabbit hole.” Seasoned readers know what this is—becoming completely engrossed in a story that comes alive in such a way that you feel as if you are living inside it. Could Crossings indeed be a book like that? My heart certainly hoped so.

    I will now pause to give the reader a moment to choose whether they want to read the next section. If you would like to come to Crossings with a somewhat “blank slate” as I did, I would encourage you to jump down to the last passage of the review, below the starred line. This is not to say that my thoughts will be overloaded with spoilers, but the following content is certainly more than I had when I set out to read the book.

    Crossings has two manners in which it can be read: the traditional way, from start to finish, and an alternate way, following references at the end of certain chapters, to not just turn the page, but actually jump to another section, possibly hundreds of pages away from your current position. This does not change the meaning of the story per se (a la the old Choose Your Own Adventure books I read as a child), but it certainly changes the perspective of the reader, and the knowledge that they carry with them from section to section. This alternative method is called the “Baroness Sequence”, for reasons that will be made clear when the story is read.

    I estimate that I read about 50% of the novel before I came to what I believe was an error in my advanced digital copy, as one of the Baroness “jumps” that I made resulted in a location that did not make any sense. I am certain this will not be a problem with the printed edition, or the final e-book edition either. Advanced copies are unfinished works, prone to typographical errors and omissions. As I had no way of knowing where to go from the strange location in which I found myself, I decided to start the book from the beginning, reading from start to finish in the traditional way. As such, my impression of the book is a mixture of the Baroness perspective and the “normal” one. I will comment on this more later.

    Crossings entertains the notion of the transmigration of the soul, as has also been seen in several movies over the years, wherein two living souls swap bodies. In Landragin’s novel, there are multiple types of transmigration or “crossings”. Some are done “blind” and are temporary, with one soul not completely remembering that they had briefly occupied the body of another. Others are done very intentionally and with a more permanent arrangement in mind, such as between a young person wishing to die, and an ailing elderly person wishing for a new young body.

    A note for my conservative Christian readers: As a Christian, I of course do not believe in this type of phenomenon, any more than I believe in magical portals to Narnia or time travel via standing stones as found in Outlander. Still, I am able to enjoy these stories and appreciate them for what they are: fantasy. This type of pseudo-suspension of disbelief must be employed if the reader is to enjoy the story. Also, the Christian religion is not always looked favorably upon in the novel, as it is a historical (and current) fact that not all believers share the Gospel in culture-sensitive, non-political ways. There is also a bit of sexual content in the novel, but it is not pervasive. 

    Back to the different reading methods: In some ways, the “Baroness Sequence” brought on a state of confusion for me, as the narrative tends to jump between large expanses of time, with different characters picking up the story and handing them off to others, in a way.  That said, the knowledge I gained from the various time periods actually was an aid to me when I began reading the book from start to finish. I think I would have been much more confused about the events that were transpiring, had I not spent a significant time in the “Baroness sequence”. If someone new to Crossings was to ask me which method I preferred, if I could only recommend one, I would advise to go with the Baroness. There is a certain amount of confusion in reading it that way, but if you can be persistent, I think that would be the best course of action. That said, for either reading method, I found it somewhat difficult to keep track in my mind which character was which. With the multiple cases of body-switching, there were many times when I wasn’t sure who was speaking. In hindsight, I probably should have committed a “map of souls” to paper. Perhaps that would have helped me in my disorientation. This was the element that kept Crossings from becoming the book I had hoped it would be. I did not go down the rabbit hole as much as I would have liked. 

    *      *      *      *      *      *

    In many ways I enjoyed Crossings very much. It might be the debut novel for author Alex Landragin, but his literary skill is superb. His knowledge of history, cultures and languages is most impressive. I’m unaware of any plans for a sequel to Crossings, but this certainly should not be Landragin’s last work of fiction. His talent is remarkable, and I am certain he would do well to bring another novel to his audience. While I cannot give Crossings an unrestrained, absolute recommendation, I found it to be quite a unique and notable title, one I will remember for some time to come.






    About the Author

    ALEX LANDRAGIN is a French-Armenian-Australian writer. Currently based in Melbourne, Australia, he has also resided in Paris, Marseille, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Charlottesville. He has previously worked as a librarian, an indigenous community worker and an author of Lonely Planet travel guides in Australia, Europe and Africa. Alex holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne and occasionally performs early jazz piano under the moniker Tenderloin Stomp. Crossings is his debut novel.

    Connect with Alex

    LinkWithin

    Related Posts with Thumbnails