Nostalgia

After writing my posting about Nine Coaches Waiting I had a bout of nostalgia. I went to Amazon and began looking up my old favorite books.  This led me to an author I had forgotten about and then to essays and blogs that talked about the change in romantic suspense over the years, and this reminded me of other books and authors I had not thought of in a long time.

The Amazon order was completely out of hand but very bibliophile-like. There were old Gothic novel paperbacks by Jill Tatterrsall from private sellers. I found a book by Stella Gibbons I had never read. I added two Jane Aiken Hodge books I have not seen since High School, also from a private seller, and a copy of Phyllis A. Whitney's Sea Jade, which was my favorite book for all of 9th and 10th grades!

I can't wait to tell my sister! She will be so excited! (She is afflicted too.)

I don't feel the least guilty. I don't have my nails done, often hack at my own hair with the scissors from the bathroom drawer and wear my daughters hand-me-downs, so this is pretty much the only place I spend money.  (Maybe a little tea or an occasional gourmet coffee . . . ) My long suffering husband has moved boxes of books for me, purchased additional shelves and learned to walk looking at the floor in case I had arrived home after a trip to a used book store and deposited my treasures where ever, to be shelved or stacked  in my study later.  It is just who I am and what I do and he loves me this way. Thank goodness!

Now, to Sea Jade.  I remember when I wanted to be Miranda Heath and be lifted from the bed 'quilts and all' by Brock  . . .  

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I found "I Capture the Castle" over forty years ago.  How could I resist a book that starts with the narator sitting in a sink? This strange family fascinated me and I grew to love each of them.  Their poverty, the ruin of a castle and Cassandra, our story teller, all drew me in so completely I stayed up all night finishing this book. ( I too had a beautiful sister and waited to be noticed.)

Living in genteel poverty with their eccentric writer father and step mother who was at one time an artists model, they exist with little change or hope in their lives. Until wealthy American brothers move to the estate next door.  Romance! The book is a very pleasant trip to Britain during the time between the two wars. It is funny, uncomfortable and heartbreaking. Mostly it is wonderful!
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The younger me was a little disappointed in Dodie Smith's ending of "I Capture the Castle", but by my second read of the book, I realized the rightness of it. This is a great book, still . . .  on this, my sixth reading.

Dead of Winter by Spencer Seidel

Dead of Winter is a well written book that kept me guessing until the very end. There are many twists in Dead of Winter with a family type not often seen in books, but often in real life.

Seidel's book is about Alice Wynter, who resigns herself to return to her home town when her father dies so she can help her mother. The chain of events that follows, as well as flashbacks to 1984 and what happened to Alice and her twin bother Chris that year- events that are directly effecting the present - make a very satisfying story.

I could not stop reading and I finished this book in a straight seven hours. I learned something about Maine and a lot about how secrets can long haunt and hurt you.

Can't wait to see what Seidel comes up with next!

Nine Coaches Waiting, et al by Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart's early books, mostly written in mid-twentieth century, are now a slice of the culture. Women rarely wear 'trousers',  people are repeatedly lighting cigarettes for someone else and even television seems rare. I love the trips back in time with the ordinary, but brave, young women who are thrust into extraordinary circumstances. I even like the tidy, but satisfying, endings.

Nine Couches Waiting is the first Mary Stewart book I ever read. I must have been in my early teens and enjoyed it so much I hunted down all the rest of her books soon after. This one is almost a Gothic. There is Linda Martin, the English governess, a French Chateau, Phillipe, her charge who seems to be in great danger and the handsome uncle of the child who drives fast and may not be trustworthy, even though Linda has fallen in love with him. The stuff my romantic youth craved!

I read my Stewart collection again every few years. The Moon Spinner, This Rough Magic, The Ivy Tree, and the rest. I feel these early books were her best.

http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Stewart/e/B000AP6YNC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill

This is a sad story. There is somewhat of a mystery but not the every day 'who dunnit'. It is unusual because the story unfolds in 1968 as it is told by the old Nanny Maddie. The chapters alternate to the diary of the mother who writes in prison where she has been incarcerated for killing her four year old daughter in the 1800's. Based on a true event in late 19th century Ireland, this is dark and haunting. The mother never realizes her wrong and there will be heartbreak never forgotten for Maddie.

Well written and gripping, I did enjoy the piecing together of the facts to get at the truth, though the end leaves a bit of a mystery that many may have missed - a sticky spoon.

http://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Cabinet-Novel-Bernie-McGill/dp/1451611595/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316219691&sr=1-1