Fiction – Page 213 – BooksPlease

Bargain of the Day: The Runaways by Elizabeth Goudge

Published on November 2, 2014 by Margaret3 Comments

One of today’s deals on Kindle is The Runaways by Elizabeth Goudge – it was first published as Linnets and Valerians in 1964. I read and loved some of her books many years ago, but not this one. Geranium Cat reviewed it earlier this year so when I saw it this morning in the Kindle Daily Deals I bought it – it sounds a delightful story:

Her work has that classic blend of realism and magic, and the story of three runaway children finding their way by accident to their great uncle’s house in Devon and lifting a curse is beautifully told‘ Amanda Craig

R.I.P.IX Completed

Published on November 2, 2014 by Margaret3 Comments

RIP IX

(Art used for banners is the property of Abigail Larson)

During September and October Carl hosted his ninth annual R.I.P. (Readers Imbibing Peril) reading event (he doesn’t like to call it a challenge) over at Stainless Steel Droppings.

It involved reading from the following categories: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Supernatural. Or anything sufficiently moody that shares a kinship with the above.

I did:

ripnineperilfirst

Peril the First:

which was to read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be King or Conan Doyle, Penny or Poe, Chandler or Collins, Lovecraft or Leroux€¦or anyone in between.

It was easier than I thought to find books to qualify and I read 11 books, some were much scarier than others. The links to my posts on the books:

Cauldstane by Linda Gillard
Wycliffe and the House of Fear by W J Burley
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Brimstone Wedding by Barbara Vine
Testament of a Witch by Douglas Watt
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
The Shroud Maker by Kate Ellis
The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie
The Lake District Murder by John Bude
Time’s Echo by Pamela Hartshorne
She Never Came Home by Dorte HummelshÃ¸j Jakobsen

My thanks to Carl for this most enjoyable event.

Books Read in October

Published on November 1, 2014 by Margaret

October was a bumper reading month for me. I read 11 books and 1 novella and reviewed all of them except one – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, which was a re-read. Two books are non-fiction, and 2 books are from my TBR shelves.

I’ve included a brief description of each book, for the full posts click on the book titles.

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier €“ TBR – this is fantasy fiction set some time in the future, about a place between heaven and earth, and the people who end up there after they’ve died and what happens to them. It didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
The Lake District Murder by John Bude – first published in 1935, this is a police procedural, showing in intricate detail how the detectives investigate a crime. In this case a body is discovered in a car outside a lonely garage on a little used road.
The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie, one of the earlier of her books, first published in the UK in 1931 and in the US as Murder at Hazelmoor, featuring Inspector Narracott. It begins with a seance, or rather a table-turning session which tells of the death of Captain Trevelyan.
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel – a collection of short stories that are brooding, somewhat melancholic, dark, disturbing and full of sharp and penetrating observations.
A Short Book about Drawing by Andrew Marr – NF – not an instruction book, but it’s full of insight into what happens when you draw and it’s dotted throughout with personal information.
Almost Invincible: a biographical novel of Mary Shelley by Suzanne Burdon – a remarkable novel about Mary Shelley’s life and relationship with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, a story of scandal, love and loss.
Time’s Echo by Pamela Hartshorne – a time-slip story with an element of mystery and suspense set in York in the 1870s and the modern day.
In Our Time by Melvyn Bragg €“ NF, TBR -transcript of the Radio 4 programme covering a wide variety of subjects including the history of ideas €“ philosophy, physics, history, religion, literature and science.
Cauldstane by Linda Gillard – a ghost story, set in a Scottish tower house in the Highlands where a malign presence threatens the MacNab family and ghost writer Jenny Ryan.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf – a review may follow.
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson investigate the murder of Enoch J Drebber, an American found dead in the front room of an empty house off the Brixton Road, with the word ‘RACHE’ scrawled in blood on the wall beside the body.
She Never Came Home by Dorte HummelshÃ¸j Jacobsen (novella) – ghost story with a chilling atmosphere and shocking twist at the end.

With such a variety of books it’s impossible to pick a book of the month, but in particular both the non-fiction books are excellent:

and in fiction, Hilary Mantel’s book of short stories and Suzanne Burdon’s autobiographical novel of Mary Shelley are two that still linger in my memory:

She Never Came Home by Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen

Published on October 31, 2014October 28, 2023 by Margaret5 Comments

She Never Came Home is a perfect little ghost story for Halloween. Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen spins a suspenseful story of Alice and her husband Peter and their little dog, Foxy as they move into an old farmhouse deep in the Danish countryside. Just why is Foxy nervous about the cupboard under the sink, what is in the bedrooms upstairs that are excluded from their tenancy agreement, and why has the house been empty for over thirty years?

Both Peter and Alice are out of work, but Peter still has to work out his notice in Germany and leaves Alice alone in the house… Alice slowly discovers the horrible truth.

I really liked this short story, with its chilling atmosphere and shocking twist at the end. In just a few pages Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen has written such a compelling and entertaining tale.

This is my last entry in this year’s R.I.P. challenge and another one for the My Kind of Mystery challenge.

Cauldstane by Linda Gillard

Published on October 31, 2014 by Margaret5 Comments

Linda Gillard describes her book, Cauldstane as ‘a gothic novel in the romantic suspense tradition of Daphne du Maurier, Mary Stewart & Victoria Holt.‘ It is a ghost story, set in a Scottish tower house in the Highlands:

Cauldstane stood, heroic, long-suffering, defying all that the centuries had thrown at it. (Wet rot and dry rot have proved more damaging to many a castle than the depredations of enemy artillery). I saw an ivy-clad tower, much taller than it was wide, with more windows than I could easily count, the whole topped by conical-roofed turrets and looking, from a distance, like a toy. (page 6)

The narrator is Jenny Ryan who is employed by Sholto MacNab, a retired adventurer and Laird of the castle, to ghost write his memoirs. Cauldstane, a beautiful castle is fast falling into disrepair and the MacNabs are struggling to maintain or even keep it.

When he employs Jenny Sholto jokes that every castle should have its ghost. Cauldstane not only has a ghost, there is also the MacNab curse, which affects the women the McNabs marry, with three deaths (two accidents and a suicide) attributed to the curse, and the legend of the Cauldstane claymore, supposed to possess supernatural powers to protect the MacNabs from evil.

Jenny immediately falls in love with the castle, but as she settles in a few things begin to disturb her – her notes on her laptop disappear. As she learns more about the MacNabs and their history, family secrets begin to surface. But what is the truth behind these stories? It seems to hinge on Meredith, Sholto’s second wife who was killed in a horrific car crash.

Cauldstane is peopled by well drawn colourful characters, a beautifully described atmospheric setting and a wealth of story-telling, recreating the past seamlessly interwoven with the present. Jenny not only falls in love with the castle, but also with Sholto’s heir, his son Alec and as she does so more strange events occur and it becomes obvious that there is a malign presence in the castle that doesn’t want her there. And it makes its presence known in a modern way – through Jenny’s laptop. No ghostly visions or spooky voices, but a thoroughly evil presence capable of writing on the laptop as well as moving objects and putting Jenny’s life in danger, along with the music that apparently only Jenny can hear.

As well as being a gripping tale Cauldstane is also about fear. The epigraph from The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (1842 – 1914) sets the tone: ‘Ghost: the outward and visible sign of an inward fear‘. The MacNabs are not the only ones with things to fear in their past, for Jenny too has a troubled past and both have to learn how to overcome their fears. Cauldstane is also about loss and revenge, about good versus evil and the power of love.

Linda Gillard lives in the Scottish Highlands. She has written seven novels. I enjoyed this one very much but my favourite of hers is still Star Gazing. For more information about Linda Gillard and her books see her website, Linda Gillard – Author.

Reading challenges: Read Scotland 2014, My Kind of Mystery and R.I.P. IX.