Once again Chief Inspector Gamache takes a walk on the dark side. A series of seemingly unrelated crimes all point to the possibility of a catastrophic event. There are quite a few references to the crises from earlier novels but all are well explained. The title of this book and one of the major themes of the story references a Native American legend. It seems that inside each of us lives the spirit of two wolves. The grey wolf is kind, generous, caring. The black wolf is vengeful, greedy, angry. As the story goes, the wolf who wins is the one we feed. Once again Gamache finds himself often unable to rely on who is actually friend and who might be foe and must wonder if this is one of the times when he must admit that he was/is wrong. My only complaint with this book is that so little of it happens in Three Pines. When the companion book, the Black Wolf comes out in 2025, I will look forward to spending more time with the rest of my Three Pine friends.
Saturday, January 4, 2025
Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles
The Morgan in the title is Anne Morgan, daughter of J.P. Morgan. Towards the end of WWI, Anne helped organize and volunteered with CARD the French acronym for The American Committee for Devastated France. In that role she hired young Jessie "Kit" Carson from the NYPL to organize a library in the devastated city of Blérancourt. Jesse's efforts not only resulted in the first free children's libraries in France but also led to the first female librarians in that country. Her work and the work of other CARD volunteers may have been forgotten except for the interest of NYC librarian Wendy Peterson whose work in the archives of the NYPL in 1987 sends her down a path of personal and historical discovery. An interesting piece of history that puts a slightly different face on the Anne Morgan we met in The Personal Librarian.
Friday, January 3, 2025
The Insrumentalist by Harriet Constable
Anna Maria della Pieta was born in 1696 to a 17 year old prostitute in Venice. She was placed in a hole in the wall of the orphanage Ospedale della Pieta. Gathered from that hole by nuns on the other side of the wall, she would live her entire life there. But what a life. The orphanage believed in the education of the young women including music. It became famous for its figlie de coro - "daughters of the choir" - an all female orchestra. From the age of 8, Anna Maria was recognized as a musical prodigy on the violin. Experiencing what we would today term synesthesia, the colors of musical notes danced before and within her. She was championed by the music instructor at the orphanage - Antonio Vivaldi - the Vivaldi of the Four Seasons. It is their relationship that is most explored in this story. Was he a powerful mentor or a musical thief? It seems that there have been a lot of books written lately about women who, against all odds, have accomplished much and yet received little recognition. This is one of them. A bit overwritten but I'll take a little unknown history any time I can get it.
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
I have been intrigued with life in the boardinghouses of the 19th and early 20th century even since I read Clara and Mr. Tiffany. Briar House is in Washington DC. The time is the 1950's McCarthy Era. It is an adequate but morbid residence until Grace Marsh rents the tiny attic room and begins creating lean but enticing meals on her hotplate every Thursday evening. Drawn out of their previously solitary rooms, the Briar Club is formed. The book is organized around each resident's story - all drawn from real people, all with secrets. It is both historical fiction and a murder mystery but it is mostly a story of female friendship seasoned with the morality of hard times and bad luck. It is an ending that you both anticipate and probably guess wrong. And Quinn is right - don't read the suthor's notes first.