Alchemy's Daughter - Mary A. Osborne #AlchemysDaughter #historicalfiction #hsreadathon

Title: Alchemy's Daughter
Author: Mary A. Osborne
Pages: 288
Published: 2015
Challenges: Historical Fiction
Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Edition: Paperback
Source: Publisher via Italy Book Tours

Book Description: In medieval San Gimignano, Italy, daughters of merchants are expected to marry. But Santina Pietra cares only for Calandrino, a brilliant young scholar who is preoccupied with his ancient alchemical texts. 

Soon Santina meets Trotula, the village midwife, who might or might not be a "strega," a witch. Trotula challenges her to forget Calandrino and become the woman she is meant to be. Some say she is a victim of the midwife’s spell, but Santina is determined to follow in Trotula’s footsteps even as calamities strike. 

Thoughts: While it took me awhile to actually sit down and read the book, once I started the book, I felt engaged with Santina and the other characters in the book.  My favourite character was Trotula, as she took no nonsense from Santina and expected her to eventually figure things out on her own.

I really liked the setting, as it wasn't a typical Italian setting and didn't really take place in a typical period for fiction set in Italy, which is usually the Renaissance or during the Roman Empire, but set in an era that little is known about.   The plot flows well and seems to flow seamlessly, all the while keeping the reading engaged with the characters and the author made me feel as though I should care for Santina and really rooted for her and also empathized with her.

If there was one thing that I didn't really like it was that I felt that the language was a little simplistic for me as a reader and felt that it was more geared to readers coming out of middle grade fiction and looking for something a little more difficult, but not too difficult, even though the main characters are in their late teens/early twenties.  I really liked the inclusion of the three maps at the beginning of the book, allowing the reader to know where the story takes place.

Bottom line: Overall, it was a good book and nice break from the densely packed adult fiction that I read on a regular basis and would be a really good read for those readers that are transitioning out of middle grade books into young adult book.  Or for those of us adults who enjoy a break from the denser fiction or who just want a nice, easy historical fiction.  And for parents that are worried about the content, the book is clean and has no language or sexual issues that could find myself.  Highly recommended. 

Rating: 4.25/5

Author's Bio:

Mary A. Osborne is the multiple award-winning author of Alchemy's Daughter and Nonna’s Book of Mysteries. A graduate of Rush University and Knox College, where she was mentored in the Creative Writing Program, Ms. Osborne is a registered nurse and holds degrees in chemistry and nursing. Her freelance work has appeared in publications such as Hektoen International, Newcity, and the Examiner.com. Ms. Osborne lives in Chicago.

Connect with Mary: Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter

Where to buy the book:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository

The Winter Of Red Snow - Kristiana Gregory

Title: The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777
Author: Kristiana Gregory
Pages: 192
Published: 2010 (originally published 1996)
Challenges: Historical Fiction, War Through the Generations
Genre: Historical Fiction, Children's literature
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Eleven-year-old Abigail Jane Stewart's fictionalized diary about her life, family, friends, and neighbors, and the sides they have to choose in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the height of the Revolutionary War, renders a vivid portrayal of one of the most memorable and crucial winters in American history.

Abby's life with her family is quickly upended when they are awakened by the unfamiliar sound of drums. General George Washington is leading the Continental soldiers into their winter encampment at Valley Forge, PA. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: For myself as an adult, this was a book that I got through during the course of an evening, but for a younger reader probably around 9 or 10 years of age, this book probably would take a bit longer to read, but if they are good readers, they will probably enjoy them. 

I like how the author put enough facts into the book to make the reader intrigued to further research, if they are interested in such a thing, but also put enough fiction so that the reader can actually enjoy the story.  It also is fairly clean enough, with the exception of a few scenes in which there are some amputations, etc, but nothing too graphic, to parents not worry about the content of this particular series.

Bottom line: I would recommend this book and possibly the other books in this series to those readers that are the middle grades, probably starting around grade 3 or 4, depending on the reader, and those that may have an interest in historical fiction. Recommended.

Rating: 4/5

Pages for 2013: 19, 455

The Gods of Heavenly Punishment - Jennifer Epstein

Title: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment
Author: Jennifer Epstein
Pages: 384
Published: 2013 (first published 2012)
Genre: Historical
Challenges: Historical
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Fifteen-year-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I struggled with this book and had to basically force myself to finish the book, but it was odd because once I was into reading the book, I really got into the story lines, even though they felt very confusing as to how they all related to one another.  Despite the fact that the book was well written, it felt disjointed and as though I couldn't place myself wherever the story was going, even though by the end, I really wasn't really surprised at all what had supposedly happened had in fact happened.

Bottom line: Due to my ambivalence to the book and that at times I just wished it would end, I don't know who I would recommend the book to.  It is well-written and there were chapters that drew me in more than others and if you enjoy literature that deals with World War Two, I would recommend it to you. Recommended.

Rating:  3/5

Pages for 2013: 7064

The Whole Truth - Kit Pearson

Title: The Whole Truth : a novel
Author: Kit Pearson
Pages: 336
Published: 2012 (first published 2011)
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Canadian
Challenges: Historical
Edition: Paperback
Source: Library

Description: It is 1932. Polly and her older sister, Maud, travel by train and boat from Winnipeg to an island between Vancouver and Victoria. Polly will live with their grandmother, the sisters? new guardian, and attend the small school on the island, while Maud will go to boarding school in Victoria.

Their extended family welcomes the girls warmly. New-school jitters give way to new friendships and even a new puppy, and slowly Polly feels that she is becoming part of a larger family she never knew until now.

But Polly and Maud have a dramatic secret, and they have promised each other never to tell anyone. A surprise arrival on the island, however, threatens Polly?s newfound happiness and tests the bonds of family love. Can Polly keep the secret and her new life on the island?

Thoughts: When I saw this book come through a book box this past September at work, I knew I had to read this book.  When I was about 12, I read my first Kit Perason book and she quickly became a favourite author of mine.  Sure the book was probably a tad predictable, but just like the other books that I have read of hers, I enjoyed it and was fully satisfied with the book.  It took me awhile to read the book, but once I was able to really get going with the book, I was able to get through it quite quickly and just couldn't shake it.

Bottom line: I would probably recommend this for readers starting at around age 9 and for those of us adults who grew up with her books and just enjoy being transported to a time and place that they didn't get to experience.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4/5

Pages for 2013: 6680

A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan Bradley

Title: A Red Herring Without Mustard
Author: Alan Bradley
Pages: 416
Published: 2011
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Challenges: Historical Fiction, Off the Shelf, TBR Pile, Embarrassment of Riches
Edition: Paperback
Source: Personal Collection

Description: “You frighten me,” the old Gypsy woman says. “Never have I seen my crystal ball so filled with darkness.” So begins eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce’s third adventure through the charming but deceptively dark byways of the village of Bishop’s Lacey. The fortune teller also claims to see a woman who is lost and needs help to get home—and Flavia knows it must be her mother Harriet, who died when Flavia was less than a year old. The Gypsy’s vision opens up old wounds for our precocious yet haunted heroine, and sets her mind racing in search of what it could mean.
 
When Flavia later goes to visit the Gypsy at her encampment, she certainly doesn’t expect to find the poor old woman lying near death in her caravan, bludgeoned in the wee hours. Was it an act of retribution by those who thought that the woman had abducted a local child years before? Certainly Flavia understands the bliss of settling scores; revenge is a delightful pastime when one has two odious older sisters. But how can she prove this crime is connected to the missing baby? Did it have something to do with the weird sect who met at the river to practice their secret rites?
 
While still pondering the possibilities, Flavia stumbles upon a corpse—that of a notorious layabout and bully she had only recently caught prowling about Buckshaw. The body hangs from a statue of Poseidon in Flavia’s very own backyard, and our unflappable sleuth knows it’s up to her to figure out the significance. Pedalling her faithful bicycle, Gladys, across the countryside in search of clues to both crimes, Flavia uncovers secrets both long-buried and freshly stowed—the dodgy dealings of a local ironworks, the truth behind the Hobblers’ secret meetings, her own ancestor’s ambitious plans—all the while exhausting the patience of Inspector Hewitt. But it’s not long before the evidence starts falling into place, and Flavia must take drastic action to prevent another violent attack.  (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: As one could well imagine, I also loved this one again.  While there is more of Flavia's chemistry wizardry in this book, it isn't as much as the first two books, but you do get is more of her curiosity about the world around her and how she will do anything to get at the truth, even if it does meaning having to lie from time to time in order to solve the crime.  Once again I could hardly get myself away from the book and finished the book in less than a week and somehow I am eagerly anticipating reading the next book, but I do have other books to read.

Bottom line: While it is a part of a series, you can read the book as a stand-alone and still enjoy it just much.

Rating: 4/5

Pages for 2013: 5094

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Brontë
Pages: 384
Published: 1985 (Originally published 1847; my actual copy is different then one pictured; am just using this photo because I have it in my album)
Genre: Classic, Historical fiction, Gothic
Challenges: The Classics Club, readalong through Unputdownables, Historical Challenge
Edition: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Description: It's the story of Heathcliff, an orphan who falls in love with a girl above his class, loses her, and devotes the rest of his life to wreaking revenge on her family. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: I first read this book when I was about 14 years old and at the time, I couldn't make sense of it and by the end of the book, I was wanting to throw the book across the room and probably because of the fact that I was unable to get myself to read the book again.  Of course I was able to understand it more after watching the BBC miniseries that came out a few years ago, I was able to make more sense of the story and the readalong that I participated through Unputdownables really helped me understand the story that much more.  And based on this last reading of the book, I was able to give the book a full appreciation of really how good the book was and it makes me wonder that if Emily had been able to live for a long time, how good her work could have become.  Maybe she would have become a one-hit wonder, or maybe she would have been a prolific writer, like her sister Charlotte, who wrote a number of well-known books through out her lifetime.

One thing that I liked about the book was that the book was basically told like a story that is being related to another individual.  I realize that this is stating the obvious, but understanding this fact, helps with the reading of the book, because you don't see Mr. Lockwood that much and hear mostly Nelly's retelling of the story between the two families that clearly dominate the area.  Another thing that I like about the book is that its a very complex novel, despite the fact that it really is a pretty simple story line. And that Emily Bronte is able to bring out complex emotions in not only her characters that are so vivid for a number of reasons, but also complex emotions in those that read the book.  Its almost a love-hate relationship with the book; there are characters that I absolutely adore and want more of (Cathy Linton [not her mom, who is also named Catherine]) and there are characters that I really do come to loathe (Heathcliff and Isabelle Linton-Heathcliff and possibly Edgar Linton).  

There also something extremely dark that kept me wanting to find out what it was and it felt like you got absorbed into that world, just like Cathy [the daughter] did after coming to Wuthering Heights. I think what Bronte does effectively is create a world that is both foreboding, but also inviting, almost like she is seducing the reader to continue on with the book, as though there is something forbidden behind the front doors of Wuthering Heights.

Bottom line: If you enjoy books that have a gothic feel to them, you will enjoy this.  I would say that if you are new to the classics, you may want to hold off on the book for a bit, as it is a bit complex and maybe something lighter would be easier to digest.

Rating:  4/5

Pages for 2012: 19265

A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway

Title: A Farewell to Arms
Author: Ernest Hemingway
File Size (Pages): 568 KB (332)
Published: 2012 (First published 1929)
Genre: Classics, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Challenges: The Classics Club
Edition: E-book
Source: Purchased

Description: Set in the waning days of the First World War, A Farewell to Arms (1929) is the epic love story of American ambulance driver Frederic Henry and British V.A. D. Catherine Barkley, drawn together yet torn apart by the tides of war. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: It was okay.  While I liked the overall story of the book, I just felt that Hemingway's use of voice wasn't my style and felt that the interaction between Frederic and Catherine was basically surface level type of conversation and that they really had no depth to their relationship.  And if it weren't for my book club group reading the book, I probably wouldn't have read it.  Its not that its a bad book, its just that I felt that there wasn't really anything deep between them and felt that Frederic's relationship with the men that he interacted with on a regular basis was more realistic than what he had with Catherine.  Then again, Hemingway is hard to understand and that it was my first venture into anything he had written and hopefully I will read another book of his.

Bottom line: I would recommend this book to those that are fans of writers of the 1920s and 1930s, basically if you are a fan of Hemingway's contemporaries.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2012: 18062

The Rebel Wife - Taylor M. Polites

Title: The Rebel Wife
Author: Taylor M. Polites
Pages: 304
Published: 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction
Challenges: Historical Fiction, Support Your Library
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Augusta Branson was born into antebellum Southern nobility during a time of wealth and prosperity, but now all that is gone, and she is left standing in the ashes of a broken civilization. When her scalawag husband dies suddenly of a mysterious blood plague, she must fend for herself and her young son. Slowly she begins to wake to the reality of her new life: her social standing is stained by her marriage; she is alone and unprotected in a community that is being destroyed by racial prejudice and violence; the fortune she thought she would inherit does not exist; and the deadly blood fever is spreading fast. Nothing is as she believed, everyone she knows is hiding something, and Augusta needs someone to trust. Somehow she must find the truth amid her own illusions about the past and the courage to cross the boundaries of hate, so strong, dangerous, and very close to home. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: Overall, it was a decent book and a fairly quick read.  I was able to get my way through the book quite quickly and able to read large chunks of the book at one time.  But what bothered me is that the book sort of just went over me and I felt that I had to re-read the book, even though I was close to the end.  It just felt that I missed too many details in the book to make any sort of true analysis and also its been almost a month since I finished the book.

Bottom line: Its a pretty good book and would recommend the book to those that like historical fiction or fiction surrounding the era of reconstruction in the Southern United States after the American Civil War.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2012: 15287