Let's try this again...

For some reason, yesterday's post did not get delivered to my email as it usually does around 4pm, so I'm going to repost as if it were a new post and see if this will fix things (don't know what happened - I was looking at my email settings yesterday, so hopefully I didn't mess things up!!) Thanks for your patience.

Yesterday's post:

I’m certainly appreciating my steaming cup of chai tea this morning, as it’s a brisk, windy 13 degrees, quite a change from the extra humid day we had yesterday.  

I have a book and an audiobook to tell you about today.  The book is one I read just for fun, Thursday’s Children (alternate UK title Thursday’s Child), a psychological thriller by Nicci French.  I must have read a review of this book somewhere, as I can’t imagine why else I would have requested it from the library.  I’ve read other books by this British husband-and-wife writing team, but not for quite a few years.  This book is the fourth in the “Frieda Klein” mystery series, and opens with Frieda having tea with a friend while waiting for an old school mate to show up.  It is clear from the first few pages that Frieda is not very open about her past, and that she is reluctant to share any information about it with those who are currently in her life, which is interesting since Frieda is a psychotherapist, someone who helps others come to terms with their past and take control of their lives.  Maddie shows up at Frieda’s door seeking help for her teenaged daughter, Becky, who claims to have been raped in her home a few days before.  Maddie doesn’t believe her, and thinks that Becky is just seeking attention and being dramatic, but asks Frieda to assess her and try to help, as she has stopped eating and has become withdrawn.  When Frieda hears Becky’s story, there are details that ring true and Frieda believes her, because when she was sixteen, Frieda herself was a victim of the same rapist.  She offers to do a proper assessment of Becky and then recommend a therapist, and Becky seems to be getting a bit better and even agrees to go to the police, but Maddie is more angry than ever, because she still doesn’t want to believe that her daughter was raped and feels that Frieda is just encouraging Becky in her attention-seeking behaviour.  Then Becky commits suicide, and Frieda must go back to Braxton, the small town where she grew up but a town she has avoided since she left suddenly shortly after her own rape.  Her mother, too, did not believe her, but she eventually went to the police anyway, although that investigation led nowhere.  Frieda visits her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in 23 years, and it becomes clear where Frieda learned to be so antagonistic.  She reaches out to Maddie for information because she doesn’t believe that Becky committed suicide, but Maddie just wants her to go away.  So, forced back into her old life, she sets herself up in Braxton and tries to contact people from her past who could help her piece things together from that night 23 years ago when she was raped in order to figure out who the rapist/murderer is.  All of this leads to a nail-biting conclusion that makes me want to read the first three books in this series, as well as the next two.  While not everything was totally believable, and Frieda’s character was not terribly likeable, the story was complex enough and fast-paced enough to keep me anxiously turning pages and looking for extra opportunities to read.  It definitely would have been helpful to have read the earlier books in order to better understand the relationships between Frieda and most of the male characters in the book, who all seem to be a little in love with her, but you could read this one on its own and still get most of it.  I was reminded of the awesome British film, “Truly, Madly, Deeply”, about a woman who can’t seem to get over the death of her partner, who comes back to haunt her flat and help her move on.  There are many men in her life who are also a little in love with her, and all want to help her with her grief (and her rat problem).  There are many similarities between the characters in the book and in the film, except that the main character in the film, Nina, is wonderful, while Frieda is, well, not-so-wonderful.  Anyway, I’d give it a 7.5 out of 10, and would recommend it to anyone who likes a complex, fast-paced psychological thriller.  As an aside, since I finished reading this book, I haven’t been caught in the rain!

And the audiobook I want to tell you about is March Violets by Philip Kerr, narrated by my favourite reader, John Lee.  I mentioned this book last time in relation to All Quiet on the Western Front and book banning in Nazi Germany.  Well, I’m not quite finished, but I don’t think I will have time to write a post next week, as I will be going away for a “girls’ weekend” and will be getting back late on Sunday.  Bernhard “Bernie” Günther is a 38-year old ex-cop-turned-private investigator in 1936 Berlin who is hired by Hermann Six, a rich industrialist, to track down the diamonds stolen during the home invasion that led to the murder of Six’s daughter and son-in-law and the fire that destroyed their house.  Günther’s investigation leads him to discover that Six and his son-in-law, Paul Pfarr, were at odds with one another, and that Pfarr was planning to reveal Six’s shady dealings to the SS.  One discovery leads to another, including corruption within the government and illicit relationships.  All of this takes place against the backdrop of Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of WWII, and the horror of what is happening is ever-present.  It really hits home during the disturbingly detailed scenes in Dachau camp.  If you are like me, your understanding of the conditions in Germany at that time have been informed largely by films and popular books that depict these conditions.  I have not read extensively outside of the usual material, but this section of the book gives me a fresh look at the horrors that took place in the years leading up to the war.  This seems to be a major theme, the everyday violence, as well as horrific conditions, Jews and others faced at that time, and the inability or reluctance of ordinary Germans to do anything about it.  I’m nearly finished, and it’s certainly been an interesting listening experience so far.  This is Book One in the Berlin Noir trilogy featuring Bernhard Günther.  I’ve listened to Book Two, Pale Criminal, recently, and will definitely check to see if the third book, A German Requiem, is available as an audiobook.  I give it an 8 out of 10, and would recommend it to anyone who likes reading detective novels set in WWII, especially if you enjoy the Philip Marlowe novels (Bernie is definitely his German counterpart).  

Time to get outside and enjoy all the gorgeous sunshine!

Bye for now…
Julie

Book and audiobook talk on a cool, bright morning...

I’m certainly appreciating my steaming cup of chai tea this morning, as it’s a brisk, windy 13 degrees, quite a change from extra humid day we had yesterday.  

I have a book and an audiobook to tell you about today.  The book is one I read just for fun, Thursday’s Children (alternate UK title Thursday’s Child), a psychological thriller by Nicci French.  I must have read a review of this book somewhere, as I can’t imagine why else I would have requested it from the library.  I’ve read other books by this British husband-and-wife writing team, but not for quite a few years.  This book is the fourth in the “Frieda Klein” mystery series, and opens with Frieda having tea with a friend while waiting for an old school mate to show up.  It is clear from the first few pages that Frieda is not very open about her past, and that she is reluctant to share any information about it with those who are currently in her life, which is interesting since Frieda is a psychotherapist, someone who helps others come to terms with their past and take control of their lives.  Maddie shows up at Frieda’s door seeking help for her teenaged daughter, Becky, who claims to have been raped in her home a few days before.  Maddie doesn’t believe her, and thinks that Becky is just seeking attention and being dramatic, but asks Frieda to assess her and try to help, as she has stopped eating and has become withdrawn.  When Frieda hears Becky’s story, there are details that ring true and Frieda believes her, because when she was sixteen, Frieda herself was a victim of the same rapist.  She offers to do a proper assessment of Becky and then recommend a therapist, and Becky seems to be getting a bit better and even agrees to go to the police, but Maddie is more angry than ever, because she still doesn’t want to believe that her daughter was raped and feels that Frieda is just encouraging Becky in her attention-seeking behaviour.  Then Becky commits suicide, and Frieda must go back to Braxton, the small town where she grew up but a town she has avoided since she left suddenly shortly after her own rape.  Her mother, too, did not believe her, but she eventually went to the police anyway, although that investigation led nowhere.  Frieda visits her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in 23 years, and it becomes clear where Frieda learned to be so antagonistic.  She reaches out to Maddie for information because she doesn’t believe that Becky committed suicide, but Maddie just wants her to go away.  So, forced back into her old life, she sets herself up in Braxton and tries to contact people from her past who could help her piece things together from that night 23 years ago when she was raped in order to figure out who the rapist/murderer is.  All of this leads to a nail-biting conclusion that makes me want to read the first three books in this series, as well as the next two.  While not everything was totally believable, and Frieda’s character was not terribly likeable, the story was complex enough and fast-paced enough to keep me anxiously turning pages and looking for extra opportunities to read.  It definitely would have been helpful to have read the earlier books in order to better understand the relationships between Frieda and most of the male characters in the book, who all seem to be a little in love with her, but you could read this one on its own and still get most of it.  I was reminded of the awesome British film, “Truly, Madly, Deeply”, about a woman who can’t seem to get over the death of her partner, who comes back to haunt her flat and help her move on.  There are many men in her life who are also a little in love with her, and all want to help her with her grief (and her rat problem).  There are many similarities between the characters in the book and in the film, except that the main character in the film, Nina, is wonderful, while Frieda is, well, not-so-wonderful.  Anyway, I’d give it a 7.5 out of 10, and would recommend it to anyone who likes a complex, fast-paced psychological thriller.  As an aside, since I finished reading this book, I haven’t been caught in the rain!

And the audiobook I want to tell you about is March Violets by Philip Kerr, narrated by my favourite reader, John Lee.  I mentioned this book last time in relation to All Quiet on the Western Front and book banning in Nazi Germany.  Well, I’m not quite finished, but I don’t think I will have time to write a post next week, as I will be going away for a “girls’ weekend” and will be getting back late on Sunday.  Bernhard “Bernie” Günther is a 38-year old ex-cop-turned-private investigator in 1936 Berlin who is hired by Hermann Six, a rich industrialist, to track down the diamonds stolen during the home invasion that led to the murder of Six’s daughter and son-in-law and the fire that destroyed their house.  Günther’s investigation leads him to discover that Six and his son-in-law, Paul Pfarr, were at odds with one another, and that Pfarr was planning to reveal Six’s shady dealings to the SS.  One discovery leads to another, including corruption within the government and illicit relationships.  All of this takes place against the backdrop of Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of WWII, and the horror of what is happening is ever-present.  It really hits home during the disturbingly detailed scenes in Dachau camp.  If you are like me, you’re understanding of the conditions in Germany at that time have been informed largely by films and popular books that depict these conditions.  I have not read extensively outside of the usual material, but this section of the book gives me a fresh look at the horrors that took place in the years leading up to the war.  This seems to be a major theme, the everyday violence, as well as horrific conditions, Jews and others faced at that time, and the inability or reluctance of ordinary Germans to do anything about it.  I’m nearly finished, and it’s certainly been an interesting listening experience so far.  This is Book One in the Berlin Noir series featuring Bernhard Günther.  I’ve listened to Book Two, Pale Criminal, recently, and will definitely check to see if the third book, A German Requiem, is available as an audiobook.  I give it an 8 out of 10, and would recommend it to anyone who likes reading detective novels set in WWII, especially if you enjoy the Philip Marlowe novels (Bernie is definitely his German counterpart).  

TIme to get outside and enjoy all the gorgeous sunshine!

Bye for now…
Julie

Post on a cool, overcast morning...

As I sit down to write, I’m enjoying a steaming cup of chai and some fresh Ontario “first-pick” strawberries that I got at the market yesterday, along with a slice of freshly baked Date Bread.  Although I know it will get warmer and more humid this afternoon, we had thunderstorms last night so this morning it is cool and overcast and looking like it could rain again at any moment… very fall-like, and just the kind of weather I love!  

My volunteer book group met yesterday to discuss All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.  This is one of the books that I’ve had on my shelf for years and falls into Italo Calvino’s category of “books you’ve been meaning to read for ages and now it’s time to finally read them”.  Written by a German who was a former soldier during WWI, it tells the story of Paul Bӓumer, a German soldier in WWI.  But unlike other “war stories”, it is, as he writes on the first page before the novel begins, “neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it.  It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by war.”  There were, of course, battles and attacks, and leaves to go home, and card games, and trysts with French women, and hospital stays, and dealing with the wounded, both German and French, in the field.  But there were also many scenes of philosophizing about war and life amongst the men of Bӓumer’s battalion, as well as contemplation about the nature of war, and how it affects soldiers, both during the war and afterwards.  While on leave, Paul finds that he has difficulty fitting into his old life, and just wants to get back to his men.  This leads to consideration about what he will do after the war, how that sort of life is almost impossible to imagine.  My group was definitely glad to have read it, although, as is typical for us, it was certainly not an uplifting read.  We discussed the nature of war as we understand it.  I read aloud a section of the book when the men in Paul’s group are discussing war, and one man, Kat, is pointing out that, in war, unlike in real life, “(a man’s) head is turned by having so much power”.  Someone brought up that famous quotation, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.  Paul considers his experiences so far, as he is barely nineteen years old, and says “We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial - I believe we are lost.”  This really speaks to the point Remarque states at the beginning of the book, that even the men who are spared the shell are destroyed by war, that they will never have a chance to grow up and experience life as others have, they will always be separated by this horrific period in their lives.  We spoke about the poetic language of the book, and one member who read this many years ago in the original German said that the translation she had (translated by A. W. Wheen in 1929, which is the one we all had) was not a very good one, that some of the English words used were not accurate, particularly when the men are speaking.  But she said that the sections concerning philosophy and contemplation were fairly well translated. We all agreed that this book made us feel deeply, and think deeply about war and politics.  I’m listening to an audiobook that is a historical detective novel called March Violets by Philip Kerr, set in Berlin in 1936.  When I’m finished listening to it, I’ll write about it more fully, but it was interesting that just as I was finishing Western Front, which was one of the first books banned and burnt by the Nazis in 1933, one of the characters in the Kerr novel tells the main character, Bernhard Günther, that he should read a particular book now while it’s back in print.  He says that the book was banned by the Nazis and she agrees, telling him that it’s back in the bookshops to make the tourists in Berlin for the Olympics believe that things are not as bad as they have been led to believe.  That was a curious coincidence, and made me feel that I was meant to read this book now.  And with tomorrow being D-Day, thoughts of war linger.  We discussed the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life a soldier had, after different wars, and how the affects of war were not really acknowledged by family members, that former soldiers were expected to come home and just get on with things.  We talked about the different major wars, and how public responses varied according to how the causes of that war were perceived.  This led the group to think about other novels about war, and some of the titles we mentioned were Regeneration by Pat Barker, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and The Wars by Timothy Finley.  This is, of course, a very short list.  I also mentioned a German film that this novel brought to mind, “Das Boot”, based on the 1973 novel The Boat, by Lothar-Günther Buchheim.  I would definitely recommend this book as essential reading if you want to understand the experiences of soldiers in WWI, and would rate it a 9 out of 10.

That’s all for today.  This cool, overcast, rainy weather perfectly suits the book I’m reading right now, Thursday’s Children by Nicci French, a British mystery where the characters seem to always be getting caught in the rain.  

Bye for now…
Julie

Later: I went out briefly this afternoon and, as if predicted by my reading selection, I did, in fact, get caught in the rain! I find it kind of eerie when my books mirror my life...

Post on a hot summer-like morning...

I’m sitting in my reading chair with a cup of tea and a bowl of fresh strawberries (not local, unfortunately, as it hasn’t been quite warm enough for long enough), feeling the drain of the heat already - I’m not a summer person, and already the warm weather is affecting my energy level.  So I can’t guarantee a post that meets my usual upbeat standard - I know you will forgive me!

I read a book last week that was very good, but also very sad.  13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad tells the story of Elizabeth from the age of about 16 to 26, and her experiences as a fat girl.  It begins when she and her fat friend are at a McDonald’s in Misery Saga (aka Mississauga), certain that a couple of guys at the next table are checking them out.  This theme of needing to be seen as desirable by others continues throughout the thirteen tales about Elizabeth/Beth/Liz, as she tries to find happiness and acceptance, and even love, despite her weight.  Even when she finally achieves the thinness she has coveted her whole life, she seems unable to make peace with who she is or find the happiness she longs for. She remarks to a friend early in the novel that she dreams of someday having an eating disorder, which will leave her hungry and angry all the time, but she'll look great! While this seems like the kind of throwaway remark a teen might make, and the reader may be inclined to dismiss it, it really is exactly what she wants, and we are reminded of the caution to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. These harrowing stories emphasize cultural expectations and societal pressures on women regarding weight.  It was a difficult read, and I wondered if it was true that people really feel this way if they have or perceive themselves to have a weight problem.  It certainly sounded true - Awad’s use of language was both direct and critical, and her portrayal of Elizabeth’s emotional difficulties as a result of these pressures was jarring and yet sensitive.  Awad goes into great detail describing the main character’s relationships with friends, lovers, partners and family members, and the reader is left feeling that she never really connects with anyone because her animosity, bitterness and envy towards anyone who is thinner or seems happier than her always overrides her emotional needs.  It was not an uplifting book, and while there were occasional glimmers of hope, the reader is left with a stark image of a very unhappy person.  Although it seems that the author's intention was to emphasize our cultural obsession with weight, this reader was left thinking that, if only the author would have considered the experiences of the main character into her 30s or 40s, maybe Elizabeth would have finally come to terms with her body and accepted who she is, and finally find happiness… perhaps there will be a sequel?  It was definitely a skilled debut by a very talented new Canadian author.  I would give it an 8 out of 10, but be prepared to be sad and angry throughout most of the book.

That’s all for today.  Stay cool and keep reading!

Bye for now…
Julie

Long-ish post on a long weekend...

I’m sipping a cup of surprisingly delicious tea right now, not my usual steeped chai tea but a combination of one regular orange pekoe teabag and one masala chai teabag - too lazy to make the steeped stuff this morning, and this is a good substitute, tasty and double-strong!  I’m also enjoying a treat from City Cafe, a yummy date bar - mmm!!!  What better way to enjoy this holiday in honour of Queen Victoria than with a cup of tea!

I have a book and an audiobook I want to tell you about today.  The book I read is What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman.  This is a reread, and it’s a bit of an indulgence for me, as it’s not overly well-written, but it’s a twisty, turny rollercoaster ride through the past 30 years of a woman who claims to be one of the two sisters who were believed to have been abducted from a mall in Baltimore one Saturday afternoon in 1975.  The novel opens with a woman’s confused ramblings as she is driving down the highway.  Her confusion leads to an accident and she is taken to hospital where, having no ID with her, she reveals under questioning that she is one of the Bethany sisters, the younger sister Heather, then refuses to say anything more.  Enter Kevin Infante, a chauvinistic detective who becomes more and more frustrated as he struggles to come up with any leads that might help crack this case.  He consults his former partner, Nancy Porter, who after maternity leave, has joined the Cold Case squad, and together they try to get this woman to open up to them, to give them something, anything, that they can work with.  Unfortunately, all she seems to tell them are vague stories that include details that shift and change according to the situation.  There is also a social worker, Kay Somerville, who becomes involved in Heather’s case, and she approaches her lawyer friend Gloria Bustamante to take on this case and help this woman out.  There are multiple stories intertwined, as lengthy flashbacks fill in the details of the day of the crime, as well as what happened in the intervening years for both of the parents while their daughters were still missing and presumed dead.  It was very confusing, but it’s the kind of book I love to read every once in  awhile, a bit of a “trashy novel” filled with secrets and lies and mystery (I mean "trashy" in the best sense of the word, as in plot-driven as opposed to language- or character-driven).  I didn’t really remember exactly how it ended, but I had some idea, so I could pay attention to the minutiae of the story with that in mind and appreciate the complicated story Lippman created rather than just feeling lost and confused.  All in all, it was a good read, and a change from some of the more literary stuff I usually choose.  I’d give it an 8 out of 10, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys books about family secrets and doesn’t mind multiple stories and many flashbacks. As an aside, I loved this part near the beginning of the book, when we meet Kay for the first time. She is talking about books, and how she prefers reading to engaging with others. She joined a book group to give her a cover and validate her frequent choices of reading over talking. But she says she doesn't really like being in a book group, because "talking about the characters in a book she had enjoyed felt like gossiping about friends". I can relate to that!

And speaking of multiple stories that are confusing, I just finished listening to A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George.  This is the latest in the “Inspector Lynley” series, and it was certainly long and confusing!  Since I last listened to one of her books, This Body of Death, it appears that Barbara Havers, Lynley’s partner-in-crime, has gone off on her own to pursue leads in a case without authorization, landing her in the doghouse with her Superintendent, Isabelle Ardery, and her every action is being watched and monitored while Isabelle waits for just that one misstep that will lead to Havers’ transfer to Berwick upon Tweed.  The novel begins with a troubled young man, Will Goldacre, trying to salvage his relationship with his girlfriend Lilly, while also placating his overbearing mother, Caroline, and not doing a very good job of either.  When Lilly discovers something and Will jumps to his death, his mother is inconsolable.  Flash forward two years, and Caroline has found employment as an assistant to Clare Abbott, a popular feminist and author of Looking for Mr Darcy, the only thing that gives her life purpose besides her other son, Charlie.  Still grieving over Will’s death, she is devastated to discover Clare’s body in her hotel room one morning while they are on a book tour in Cambridge.  It is ruled as natural causes, a heart attack, but Clare’s publisher, Rory, is sure that it was murder.  Having met Barbara at a previous book signing in London, she enlists her help in finding out the truth, but Barbara has to fight tooth and nail to get the others on her team on board, particularly Isabelle.  Lynley does what he can to help, and the results of a second autopsy reveal that Clare was, in fact, murdered, poisoned with a drug that would cause heart failure.  When a second attack takes place, Lynley, Havers and Winston Nkata must dig deep to uncover the truths underlying these dysfunctional relationships and find the killer before time runs out and Isabelle pulls the plug on the whole investigation, handing it over to the Cambridge police.  And since the last book I read, Lynley has become involved with a veterinarian who works at the London Zoo, Dierdre, whom he met during a previous case.  Will she commit, or is Lynley wasting his time?  I thought this book was a bit over-long, but because it was an audiobook, I couldn’t skim or skip ahead, as I would probably have done if I’d been reading it.  It was still a great listening experience, and I always enjoy listening to John Lee narrate.  This book detailed the shenanigans of one of the most dysfunctional families I’ve ever come across in literature (and that’s certainly saying something, because I love books about dysfunctional families - hmmm… what does that say about me?!).  I would only recommend this to fans of previous books in this series, even if you’ve missed a few here and there (this is, after all, the 19th book in the series).  I am interested in reading or listening to Believing the Lie and Just One Evil Act, the two novels that preceed this.  I have other older titles still to read, too, but if I read these, I’ll feel like I’ve taken up the series again after Helen’s death.  I’d give it an 8 out of 10 - her novels are always ambitious undertakings, but this one seemed even more so than usual.

That’s all for today.  Happy Victoria Day!  

Bye for now…
Julie

Update...

Just a short note to let you know my thoughts about Black Apple, now that I've finished it.  It was so much more than just a look at residential schools.  The main character was also sensitive to spirits of dead people in the school dormitory and grounds, those belonging to the dead of the past, students, priests and nuns who would not rest easy.  But what I got from it, as I reached the last page, was that it was ultimately a book about a young woman learning to make her own choices and standing up for what she wants rather than being led along in life by the decisions of others.  It was a really interesting read, although the writing was somewhat uneven at times, so I would give it a 7.5 out of 10.

And I wanted to tell you about a sweet treat I had recently.  At an event I attended on the weekend, I got a box of treats and inside the box was a small container of what I at first thought to be small jelly beans.  It turns out that these were Jelly Bellies, which a woman beside me went on about as being so wonderful, with each bean being a different flavour.  This reminded me of the beans in the Harry Potter books, the "every-flavour beans", although these ones didn't have nasty flavours like vomit or earwax (warning:  I just saw on the Jelly Bellies website that they are starting to introduce the grosser flavours, too, like spoilt milk and dead fish - yuck!)

Have a good night!
Julie

Unfinished book on a chilly Spring morning...

It’s a chilly morning in May as I sit down to write this blog post.  I was cooking this morning and looked out my kitchen window to see what looked like apple blossom petals drifting down from the sky.  Against the sunny backdrop, I thought it was a case of strong winds blowing the petals from my neighbour’s apple tree down to my backyard, but as I checked out the front window, I found it was happening everywhere - it was the most beautiful brief snowfall I’ve ever seen!  It lasted about 3 minutes, then ended.  Right now it looks like overcast skies and sleet - who knows what will be next!

I’ve not quite finished the book Black Apple by Canadian author Joan Crate.  This recent publication is set in a residential school in Alberta during and after World War II and tells the story of Sinopaki Whitewater, renamed Rose Marie, a young girl who is taken from her home and family at the age of seven and brought to St Mark’s Residential School for Girls, run by the Sisters of Brotherly Love.  The nun in charge of running the school, Mother Grace, has her doubts about the value of these schools, and her own faith in and commitment to God.  She questions some of the events and actions that took place before Rose Marie arrived, but which taints the true mission of the schools, to rescue these Indian children from their heathen family ways and educate them in a Godly setting.  Of course, we all know what really happened in residential schools, and I was afraid this book would dwell too much on the horrors that took place at that terrible period in our country’s history, but so far it is surprisingly tame, while still managing to have a strong message.  It certainly isn’t glossing over the terrible acts and conditions inflicted on those poor children; rather, the author seems to manage to convey this truth while still demonstrating that something of value may have been brought forth and that someone in charge may have cared enough and questioned enough to make a difference.  I’ve still got a third of the book to read, and it was due back at the library yesterday.  I tried to renew it but it was on hold for someone else, so it’s accruing late charges even as we speak - I hope to finish it today.  It’s very good so far, and I would definitely recommend it to any reader who enjoys reading novels that explore the darker side of Canadian history.  I’ll give a rating once I finish it.

That’s all for today.  

Bye for now…
Julie