A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher ****

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. Cordelia tells her story of breaking away from her evil sorceress mother Evangeline. The unhappy family lives in Little Haws. Cordelia’s only friends are their horse, Falada, and a neighbor girl, Ellen. Evangeline’s hope for Cordelia is for Cordelia to marry a rich man, but first, she needs money to fund Cordelia’s coming out and her season in London. As Evangeline points out, “The problem with being rich is that you simply have no idea how expensive it is to be poor.” To that end, they leave Little Haws so Evangeline can enchant and marry Squire Samuel. His sister, Hester, foresees problems and refers to Evangeline as Doom.

Cordelia does her best not to upset her mother because when she does, Evangeline makes her obedient. When Cordelia is obedient her mother controls her (body, voice, etc.) except for her eyes. After arriving at the Squire’s manor, Cordelia learns that Ellen’s father, Edward Parker, is in jail for murdering his family with an axe and that Falada is not her friend but is her mother’s familiar.

“A rich man, she’d always said. Not a young man.”

“Madam.” He frowned at her. “I am a butler. Do you truly believe that I do not know how to dispatch a houseguest if required?”

In the end, Cordelia et al defeat her mother and all live happily ever after. No surprise twists here.

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Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty *****

 Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is the story of three dysfunctional kindergarten families, single mother Jane whose son Ziggy has been accused of being a bully, rich and beautiful Celeste, mother of the twins Josh and Max, who lives with domestic violence, and Madeline and Ed who have a daughter, Chloe. Madeline’s ex-husband Nathan has a kindergarten daughter, Skye, with his second wife Bonnie. Between bullying, domestic violence, and divorced parents, the kindergarten class at Pirriwee Public School has more than its share of problems. This book is a masterpiece around the themes of bullying and domestic violence. Moriarty combines the many plot threads with the skill of a master weaver. The result is easy to follow and comes together beautifully in the end.

Jane has moved to Pirriwee Beach with her son Ziggy. On Kindergarten orientation day, Ziggy is accused of being a bully. He denies it, but Jane is worried that he might have inherited sadistic tendencies from his father, an uncomfortable one-night stand with an abusive guy when Jane was nineteen.

Celeste is rich and beautiful. We rarely see her husband who travels extensively. The smallest thing can set him off, but he is careful never to leave marks that may be seen in public. After each attack, he is most attentive and affectionate. She believes that his attacks are her fault. 

Madeline and her ex-husband Nathan compete over their fourteen-year-old daughter Abigail. Abigail chooses to move in with Nathan and Bonnie. Abi takes Boonie’s sensibilities (vegan, yoga, Amnesty International) and goes further. Her website is: www.buymyvirginitytostopchildmarriageandsexslavery.com.

The author supports the idea that adult abusers/bullies are irredeemable, but cheaters are not. The book toys with nature/nurture causes for abusers/bullies without declaring a side.

Other families:

Harper and Graeme have a daughter, Emily.

Renata’s daughter is Amabella, “not Annabella. It’s French. We didn’t make it up.” She has a French nanny, Juliette. Amabella was bullied on orientation day and blamed Ziggy. Renata started a petition to have Ziggy suspended. Husband Geoff.

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Outlander by Diana Gabaldon ****

 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon begins in 1945 in Scotland when Claire touches two standing stones and is transported to 1743. The good news is that she meets her love, Jamie, and they have fantastic adventures. The bad news is that 1743 is a time of violence and sadomasochism. The book alternates between romance and torture. Even skimming through the most horrific scenes, I found the book hard to finish and I do not intend to read the next eight books in the series.

Claire is the Outlander. She finds herself among the Scottish Highland clans and passes herself off as English. Jamie calls her Sassenach which is a derogatory word for English, but which becomes a term of affection.

Claire is a strong main character who stands up for herself fighting all manner of men and beasts. Unfortunately, she is unable to prevent the over-the-top brutality that makes the book an uncomfortable and difficult read.Claire was a WWII combat nurse. She put her medical knowledge to work in 1743 by identifying beneficial plants and shunning the use of leeches. In addition to medicine, the book is packed with historical details.

550 pages. The next book is over 950!

The book includes a token discussion of the risks of time travel and changing the future. Nothing new or interesting.

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The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros *****

Are you discouraged? Read The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros! Follow the love stories of Scarlett & Jameson in WWII England plus Georgia & Noah in contemporary Colorado. Beyond these two romances, there is love for granddaughters, sisters, and so much more. The book is like a warm shower, fuzzy blanket, and hot cocoa of love. (Don’t you love mixed metaphors?) I guarantee this book will chase away your blues, if only for a while.

This book is written in three parts. There are chapters set in WWII England, contemporary Colorado, and letters exchanged by Scarlett and Jameson during WWII. The chapters are interspersed, and the letters appear at the beginning of most chapters. That might seem confusing, but it isn’t. Sometimes the letters or the Colorado chapters are spoilers for the WWII timeline, but the book isn’t a mystery, it is a story of love.

Did I say, the book isn’t a mystery? The ending is a big surprise. Just when you think the author couldn’t have packed more love into 400-plus pages, the ending reveals even more.

While most of the people in this book are lovely, there are a few baddies. (1) Georgia’s mother, Eva, can’t resist abusive husbands. She abandons Georgia to be raised by her great-grandmother, Gran Scarlett. After WWII Scarlett became a famous romance author. (2) Georgia fears she is following in her mother’s footsteps when she marries and divorces Damien, definitely a baddie. Then, (3) there are Scarlett’s parents who want to marry her off to the abusive Henry Wadsworth to cash in on their titles.

The central conflict is about Scarlett’s first book which was left unfinished when she died. Eva wants the money from this book and offers it to a publisher and a movie producer. The publisher assigns the writing to Noah Harrison (a writer both Georgia and her Gran despise). The movie producer is Georgias’s ex-husband. Fortunately, Gran left the control to Georgia. It is more complicated than this, but you get the point. Read it. You’ll be glad you did.

Scarlett and her sister Constance are WAAF officers who work in the top-secret Filter Rooms. As the BBC explains: “The Filter Room was the nerve center of the Radar system. It received information from the many Radar stations... This information, needed to be instantly corrected, coordinated, and displayed on a huge map table…, in a form suitable to be passed on to the Operations Rooms. Without this essential link, the Radar information at that time could not have been used.” Once again, the world depended on women to perform calculations in the absence of computers. Whoever thought women weren’t naturals for STEM occupations! The women often had higher ranks and security clearances than the pilots. For more fascinating information: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/53/a2093753.shtml

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