#BibliomaniacsBookClub #April #Paperlight #TheMuse #JessieBurton

April's Bibliomania is for 

Jessie Burton's The Muse

Published by Picador (2016)

What is it about?

On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.

The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .

To read my review click here:
bibliomaniacuk review-the muse

The Muse Book Club Questions:

The front cover for this novel is very ornate and beautiful. Did you like it? What do you think the publishers and the author were trying to convey through this cover? 

What do you think of the title for this book? Who is the Muse? Is there more than one? Could the book have had another title?

What ideas about women and creativity is Burton exploring in this book? What other themes are in the book?

There are several significant relationships in the novel; family relationships, marriages, physical relationships, friendships and that of a mentor and an apprentice. Which relationship did you enjoy the most or do you think is most central to the plot? 

What is the significance of Odelle's Trinidadian heritage? 

The book moves between different countries and different decades. How well has Burton evoked the social and historical context as well as the physical descriptions of location? How convincing is her sense of place?

This story has a dual narrative and a dual timeline that are interlinked.  Did you find it easy to read and easy to keep track of the different characters and events? Did you have a storyline you enjoyed more? Do you think this structure works for this novel? 

Do you think the novel could have been enhanced if images of the paintings had been included or do you think this would spoil the reader's interpretation and imaginative response?

Which was your favourite character and why? 

Who would you cast as Odelle and Quick if you were adapting The Muse to the big screen?

Is there a painting you have always wanted to know where the real inspiration behind it came from? 

If you could ask one artist, musician or writer about their muse or inspiration, who would it be and why? 

Where could you hold your book group for The Muse:

• Art Gallery 
• Spain or Trinidad 
• A London cafe - in the rain 

What could you serve?

• Tea in china cups 
• Spanish Red wine 

What props could you use to start a conversation about The Muse?

• Type writer 
• paints and brushes
• olives (edible)
• notebooks  (expensive leather bound)
• postcards of London (the more touristy the better) 
• postcards of paintings 
• Spanish Civil War history book

Quotes to start a conversation with:

"I'd like to write a novel one day. I'm still waiting for a good story." "Don't wait too long." 

Kate Atkinson said, "I think all novels are not only fiction but they are about fiction too."

"Art is not useful"

If you liked this book and want to read similar novels try:




For more about The Muse you can find articles, podcasts and interviews by clicking on the following link:

Richard & Judy (WHSmith) Book Club: The Muse

Don't forget to check out Bibliomaniac's Book Club Paperweight choice for April here:
bibliomaniacsbookclub-april Paperweight

Follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk) for more recommendations, reviews, book club questions and author events.

#BibliomaniacsBookClub #April #TheHomeMaker #PaperweightChoice

APRIL'S BIBLIOMANIA IS FOR 

DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER 

"THE HOME MAKER" 

The Home Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher is published by persephonebooks.co.uk and was first published in 1924. 

What is about? 

The novel is set in a small town in New England in the 1920s. Evangeline (Eva) is an obsessively house proud stay at home mother (a home-maker) but she and her three children are miserable. Eva's controlling behaviour as she seeks perfection and order in her home is making everyone unhappy and she herself is frustrated and bored. 

Lester, her husband, is also unhappy as he is not fulfilled by his job and misses the time he could be spending with his family. Tragedy strikes one day when Lester falls from the roof; suddenly he is bound to a wheelchair and the home. Eva has to go out to work and everything then changes. 

The children blossom and the family become happy. Each find their purpose, role and what makes them feel valued. There is an incredible transformation. But then it appears that Lester may make a recovery and the peace and new found happiness is under threat. 

The Home Maker: Book Club Questions:

• This book is written nearly 100 years ago. Did you have any preconceptions about the novel's style or content before you started reading? Did that change while you were reading?
• The book is set in the 1920s but is essentially about the life of a family and the roles of the husband and wife in the family. How relevant is this novel for today's society? Was there anything in the novel that particularly resonated with you? 
• How many house husbands do you know?
• One of the themes in this novel is perception versus reality. Can you find some examples of this in the story? 
• Which character did you feel the most sympathy for and why? Which character did you feel the least sympathy for and why?
• What points do you think The Home Maker is raising about society's expectations and personal fulfilment? What do you think Fisher's message for both men and women is? 
• What other themes are explored in the book?
• This is a book which can make you laugh, cry, scream and twitch. Which passage or scene did you find most powerful or emotive and why? 
• How did you find the ending of the novel? Was it believable? Satisfying? The only possible ending? Was it confined by the time in which it was written and published?
• Fisher was interested in Feminism, Psychoanalysis and the Montessori method of education. How do Fisher's personal interests affect or intrude upon the characters and the plot?
• Critics say Fisher was a woman ahead of her time and this is a book ahead of its time. Critics also call this a brave and remarkable read. Do you agree?
• To what extent would you agree with Dorothy Canfield Fisher when she said that The Home-Maker is a book not about women’s rights but about children’s rights?
• The Home-Maker has been one of the most successful Persephone Books titles for discussion in book groups. Why do you think this is? 
• Would you read another title from Persephone? 

Where could you hold your book group meeting for The Home Maker? 

•  around the kitchen table
•  the shop floor of any Department store

What drinks or snacks could you serve?



What props could you use to start a conversation about title?

• egg whisk
• newspaper
• a ladder
• children's paints and brushes 
• nappies
• dishcloth and cleaning equipment

Quotes to start a conversation about The Home Maker:

"But she had been like a gifted mathematician set to paint a picture"

"When Mother was scrubbing a floor was always a good time for Stephen. She forgot all about you for a while. Oh, what a weight fell off from your shoulders when Mother forgot about you for a while! How perfectly lovely it was just to walk around in the bedroom and know she wouldn’t come to the door any minute and look at you and say, ‘What are you doing Stephen? and add, ‘How did you get your rompers so dirty?’"

"it seemed to her that she had such strangechildren, not like other people’s, easy to understand and manage, strong, normal children"

"How she loathed housework!......How she hated childishness!"

In ‘Why Women Fail’ (1931), Lorine Pruette remarked sardonically that upon marrying, ‘men appear to lose a large part of their capacity as adults; they can no longer feed themselves, house themselves, look after their health, or attend to their social  responsibilities… most of them upon marriage lose the capacity even of writing to their own mother.’ Discuss........!

If you liked this book and want to read similar novels try:

These are all titles from Persephone Books (order online at persephonebooks.co.uk)

• Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge 
• Fidelity by Susan Glaspell 
• Heat Lightning by Helen Hull 

• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson 
• Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey 
• Madame Solario by Gladys Huntington 
• Any and all of Dorothy Whipple's books! 

Persephone Books reprints neglected fiction and non fiction by mid-twentieth century women. Each book is produced with a silver cover and with stunning endpapers. Here is the endpaper for The Home Maker: 

The design of this Warner silk, velvet and terry material, exported to the USA during the early 1920s, was derived from a French fabric based on medieval tapestries: two birds are facing each other and away from each other - as in marriage, they are both coupled and confrontational.

More on Persephone Books: 

Persephone Books reprints neglected fiction and non-fiction by mid-twentieth century (mostly) women writers. All of their 117 books are intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written and are chosen to appeal to busy people wanting titles that are neither too literary nor too commercial. They publish novels, short stories, diaries, memoirs and cookery books; each has an elegant grey jacket, a ‘fabric’ endpaper with matching bookmark, and a preface by writers such as Jilly Cooper, David Kynaston and Elaine Showalter.

www.persephonebooks.co.uk

More about Dorothy Canfield Fisher 

Click here: Dorothy_Canfield_Fisher



Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early decades of the twentieth century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong education. Eleanor Roosevelt named her one of the ten most influential women in the United States. In addition to bringing the Montessori method of child-rearing to the U.S., she presided over the country's first adult education program and shaped literary tastes by serving as a member of the Book of the Month Club selection committee from 1925 to 1951.

Don't forget to check out Bibliomaniac's PaperLight choice for April here: 
bibliomaniacsbookclub-april-paperlight

Follow me on Twitter to keep up to date with more book club recommendations and all my book reviews and author events @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk).

#Review #TheMuse #JessieBurton

THE MUSE by JESSIE BURTON



I have wanted to read The Muse for a long time, and not just because of the beautiful cover - although that did make it doubly tempting and did mean I bought it in paperback rather than kindle! - but because there have been so many phenomenal reviews of it. It has also been picked for the WHSmith Richard & Judy Book Club Spring Reads 2017 and this is what finally tipped the balance. Think what you like about the TV-turned-author-couple, Richard and Judy always know how to chose a great read!

What is The Muse about?

A picture hides a thousand words . . .

On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.
The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .

So there are two story lines to keep track of in the novel. They are set in different decades and concerning different characters; the narrative voice for each is different and, helpful chapter headings aside, this means it is very easy to follow the dual plot lines. But even though it's easy to follow, Burton's novel is complex and multilayered. More and more is unveiled as the stories begin to converge and the depth of the characters, and the complications between them, is revealed. It is engaging, readable and gripping - a word I usually associate with crime fiction rather than contemporary women's fiction, but gripping it is!

Each character is well drawn and vivid. Some are likeable, some not so much and one or two decidedly unlikeable characters but essentially there is a great cast of diverse and interesting people to get to know and watch. The relationships between the characters, whether through friendship, through family or marriage, are fascinating. There are some very interesting dynamics between some of them and Burton really explores the different ways in which characters are influenced, controlled, manipulated or obsessed with other people in the story.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Odelle and Quick. Odelle herself is a very strongly drawn character and I found myself very taken with her storyline. I liked Lawrie and the gentle way in which he and Odelle begin to fall in love and I liked a few of the minor characters for providing the necessary insight, humour, observation and comment about events. But I think Odelle and Quick were the stars of the show for me.

The novel is set in 1967 and 1936, both distinctive periods in history and both providing a very suitable context and backdrop for the themes in the book. Burton's sense of time, place and setting are incredible and her attention to detail faultless. The backdrop of the Spanish Civil War is effective and the arrival of a Trinidadian women on her own in 1967 is also fascinating. Burton clearly feels at home with this kind of historical genre and understands how to capture the essence of a time and how it might impact or effect her characters and the plot lines.

I guess the main thing which I enjoyed about this book was the fact that it centres around a painting. Though the search for the artist and the events surrounding the painting are obviously intrinsic to the main story, the role of the painter and how important knowing who the painter is in order to understand the meaning of the painting actually allows Burton to explore the concept of the "muse" in more depth. Along with the ideas of inspiration and the need to pursue a creative calling. I really like books were the creative arts are used to drive the plot and develop the characters and I enjoyed the fact that Odelle was an aspiring writer - a novel about a novel, a writer writing about a writer....

I would recommend The Muse. I savoured many lines, many passages, many pearls of wisdom from both the characters and the author. It is a considered, thoughtful, well written, engaging novel full of great characters and great themes. I'm really pleased to see it in the Richard & Judy selection as it is a perfect example of a book that merits both recognition for its literary merit as well as deserving of sitting on the best seller shelf alongside the other contemporary fiction novels.

I bought this book as part of the WHSmith offer on the Richard & Judy Spring Book Club reads for 2017 where it's buy one get one half price. There is such a fabulous selection of titles that it was very easy to buy more than one (I might have bought several.....!) I have reviewed some of the other novels on my blog and you can find the reviews by clicking on the links below. Happy Reading!



bibliomaniacuk: lying in wait

bibliomaniacuk: lie with me

bibiomaniacuk book club March- A Boy Made of Blocks

bibliomaniacuk: a boy made of blocks

bibliomaniacuk: the trouble with goats andsheep

Follow me on Twitter @KatherineSunde3 (bibliomaniacuk) or check out my website at www.bibliomaniacuk.co.uk for lots more recommendations, reviews and general book chat!

#SixStories #MattWesolowski #Review

It's very easy to give you a reason to read Six Stories - in fact I could give you six - no, sixty reasons why you should read it! But here's three: the cover, the author and the blurb. Any reader who loves crime, thrillers or original and fresh fiction must read this book!

It's very easy to sum up the premise of Six Stories. In 1996 Tom Jeffries went missing. A year later his body was found. Twenty years later, investigative journalist Scott King decides to interview six people close to this unsolved, cold case; six interviews giving the reader six stories about what really happened.......

It is not so easy to convey the brilliance of the book. It would be easier if you just read it!

This is a relatively short, extremely readable, unputdownable novel. It is split into six sections with an extra narrative from one of the characters, which links the sections together, filling in a little bit more of the gaps - or possibly adding a bit more tension, suspense and mystery!

The thing I enjoyed the most about this book was its completely unique narrative structure. Wesolowski has written a crime novel - a traditional whodunnit - that follows the conventions of the crime genre, but the way in which he tells the story is nothing but traditional - it is completely unconventional! It is completely contemporary, fresh, original and bold. Crime readers are used to watching the police interview suspects, they are used to gathering clues and piecing the story together but Wesolowski takes this to a whole new level. He has almost invented a brand new way of telling a story which reflects the increasing interest in investigative journalism and our fixation with social media in today's society.

Six Stories is not actually six stories but six podcasts. What struck me most was the experience of reading something that is meant to be heard. It is quite a strange sensation as I actually could 'hear' it; it really made me tune in and listen to the voices. I paid attention to every word, hesitation and statement they made. I liked that you were given the stories one at a time and left to try and determine who you could trust, who was reliable and who was telling you the truth. I do have a soft spot for a crime that takes one event and looks at it from different perspectives and I think Wesolowski takes this concept a step further and really plays with it. Hugely effective!

There are lots of unnerving ingredients in this novel - all of which will send shivers down your spine. There is a deep, dark forest. There is a man wearing a mask. There is a local figure who has autism and is easily manipulated by teenagers. There is the Marsh Hag and the Beast of Belkeld. This is a story which merges the local legends and urban myths with the known facts about the murder investigation to tell a compelling tale. This is a story where six characters are able to look back at an event that happened twenty years ago and seek the truth one final time.

Ultimately this is an author who knows exactly how to create a chilling atmosphere and who is able to tell a chilling story in a most imaginative and yes, chilling, way!

Recommend!

Six Stories was published by Orenda Books on 15th March 2017. I bought my copy via their website orendabooks.co.uk - careful though, chances are you won't be able to stop at one book once you look at the titles they have........sooooo many good books - all sooooooo tempting!

For more recommendations and reviews you can follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

#TheWitchfindersSister by #BethUnderdown #review

Before Salem, there was Manningtree. . . . 

"This summer, my brother Matthew set himself to killing women, but without ever once breaking the law." 

The book opens by establishing we are in 1645, the forth year of the Civil War, which prepares us for a setting of unease and death. And then we read the chilling words:

"Before this, women have seldom been hanged for witchcraft- one or two, every five years or ten. But now the country is falling apart at the seams. Now, all England is looking the other way: so there is nothing to stop Matthew Hopkins stepping forward. Starting to make a list of names."

There is something about topic of witchcraft which is massively appealing to me! I think it is fascinating. Witches are the stuff of great fairy tales, myths, legends and Shakespeare's plays. And then they are the stuff of history - they are the women hounded by vengeful husbands, nervous Kings and communities looking for a scapegoat. It's fascinating to read about the trials against these women, the brutality and injustice that was done to them, the lack of understanding towards mental illness, emotional behaviour and psychology - and the cruelty of men who abused people's fear of witchcraft to disguise their own flaws.

What better setting for a novel? What better moment in history for Underdown place her hugely compelling, exciting and unputdownable read?

I was immediately engaged with the story.

Despite it being set in 1645 and the author ensuring that the prose remains faithful to this era, Underdown's skill at evoking the historical context with such an accomplished subtlety means that this novel reads as well as any contemporary thriller. The detail to setting, clothes and dialogue show a huge amount of understand and research of the era but Underdown does not flaunt her extensive knowledge, merely uses it to enhance the atmosphere and characterisation. The writing is fast paced; the plot moves swiftly along with a perfect balance between suspense, tension, dramatic plot events and detailed characterisation.

Alice is a very engaging protagonist and it is easy to establish a relationship with her. She has suffered her own heartache and traumas, she has a sad history and has been away from her family for some time. When she returns home to her brother Matthew it is with "heavy heart". She has been gone 5 years and she knows he has changed.

When he was a baby, Matthew was burned in a kitchen fire which has left him with scars that run up his arm, neck, chin and across the left side of his face. He also has an "unsteady" heartbeat and dreams that make him shout out. He has never fitted in that well. Matthew and Alice are their father's "spare" children. Their father already had three older heirs so is left with Matthew and his "strangeness", and Alice, a girl. Therefore Alice and Matthew were very close as children but as she realises:

"Grow to close and you do not see what they are capable of; or you do not see it in time." 

Returning home she finds Matthew changed; he is wealthy, his fortunes have changed and he is respected, holding much influence within the community. But there is more than that. Something darker and more threatening. Alice soon realises that Matthew has become a hunter of suspected witches. As the story continues, Alice tries to stop her brother even if it  jeopardises her own safety. As she continues to seek out what it is that fuels her brother's hatred, she finds herself delving further into the family's past and dredging up dark secrets..... Does she have the strength to put her own liberty at risk in order to defeat the evil and prevent any more innocent women from facing the gallows?

This is a haunting novel. It's inspiration from real-life events makes it even more so. Matthew's character is chilling, unnerving and deeply troubling. His behaviour is so callous and reveals such a disturbed and troubled mind that he becomes quite frightening and oppressive. Alice is an equally strong character who I felt very drawn to and very involved with. She has her own demons to confront, her own past to atone and her own heartache to nurse and as events culminate she begins to realise only too late how complicated and dangerous her situation is.

The story line is easy to follow. Although there are layers and revelations, complications and twists, the plot is gripping and taut. I read this book quickly but there are some passages that are shocking. The scenes describing the treatment of women suspected of witchcraft are at times harrowing -more so because they are historically authentic and it is always hard for any reader to acknowledge people's mistreatment of others.

Alice's insights and observations are thought provoking and Underdown definitely explores attitudes towards madness, depression and mental illness at the time. I think perhaps Alice's ideas and comments would without doubt make her a woman ahead of her time but as a reader I grabbed on to them and held fast as I willed her to be able to stop Matthew and curtail his mission to send these innocent women to the gallows.

"For a woman is brought up to believe that children are her life's work - to make them and feed them and kiss their hurts. But what happens if you cannot have children? If you have too many? If you have them, and they cannot protect you? If you have them, and they die? If you weep for their loss too much, or not enough - that is when folk begin to wonder if it is your fault, your misfortune. They begin to wonder how you can have offended God, and their wonderings turn to ripe for a man like my brother to exploit." 

Underdown's writing is subtle. There are some statements and comments that actually resonate beyond the page and are relevant for today's society. There are some poignant and profound statements that reflect insight into her exploration of madness, grief, abandonment and revenge.

I found myself thinking of how as a child I had always wanted to read the books that Father said were too hard for me, not realising yet that understanding a book is not the same as being able to spell out all the words. 

This was an excellent read.  It was literally spell binding. Underdown is a talented writer who managed to charm me with her captivating prose as well as grip me with a great story and strong characters. The final lines were outstanding.

The Witchfinder's Sister was published by Penguin on 2nd March 2017.

BETH UNDERDOWN


 Follow Beth on Twitter or check out her website:
@bethunderdown

www.bethunderdown.co.uk

Beth Underdown was born in Rochdale in 1987. She studied at the University of York and then the University of Manchester, where she is now a Lecturer in Creative Writing. 

The Witchfinder’s Sister is her first novel, and is out with Viking in the UK and Ballantine in the US in Spring 2017. The book is based on the life of the 1640s witch finder Matthew Hopkins, whom she first came across while reading a book about seventeenth-century midwifery. As you do.

And don't just take my word for how good this book is - just look at these quotes!

"Vivid and terrifying."--Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Timesbestselling author of The Girl on the Train 

"Beth Underdown conjures a mesmerizing tale. The Witchfinder's Sister will draw you into the terrifying world of England's witch hunts. Read it late into the night, but don't expect to sleep afterward!"--Paula Brackston, New York Times bestselling author of The Witch's Daughter 

"Gripping . . . The Witchfinder's Sister gives a long-forgotten historical tragedy a fresh, feminist spin. Beth Underdown, by providing us with this intelligent, sympathetic protagonist, allows us to see inside the hearts of both monster and victims while never letting us forget that throughout history women's stories have too often been told by men."--Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue 

"A richly told and utterly compelling tale, with shades of Hilary Mantel."--Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat

For more recommendations and reviews you can follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk) or subscribe to this blog!