There is still a bit of summer left, so if any of you have run out of reading ideas, here are a few suggestions. Books I’ve read lately.
In the mood for a saga? This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud is a sprawling family tale running across several years and different countries.
Over seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the Cassar family is buffeted by conflict, struggling to find its feet – separated in the chaos of World War II, running from a complicated colonial homeland, and, after Algerian independence, without a homeland at all.
This Strange Eventful History, inspired by the author’s own background, is above all a family story: of Gaston and his wife Lucienne, whose myth of perfect love sustains them but stifles their children; of devoted siblings François and Denise; of François’s wife Barbara, a woman so culturally different they can hardly communicate; of Chloe, their daughter, who believes that telling buried stories will salvage them all. An immersive read about a family born on the wrong side of history.
Do you prefer classic historical tales? The Shuttle, by Francis Compton Burnett was written in 1907. Here’s the story: Bettina Vanderpoel, a beautiful and clever American heiress, travels to England to rescue her sister, married to an impoverished and dissolute English lord who has estranged her from her family. Wonderful descriptions, period detail, high stakes, passion, drama. Bettina is almost too good to be true, but isn’t it nice occasionally to admire rather than pity? She faces plenty of obstacles on her way to a happy ending. Excellent writing. You are plunged into a differed world.
A light summer read? There are Worse People, by debut writer Irina Angelova.
Having tragically lost her husband too soon, Ilaria lives with her young son in Macedonia, trying to fit into a foreign culture and a family that is not her own. When Jesse comes into her life, he ignites a new hope for something she thought was lost to her forever.
I loved this book—a fresh voice, engrossing characters, atmospheric setting and emotional high stakes. And who doesn’t like a HEA?
Non-fiction? The Husband Hunters, by Anne de Courcy is a richly entertaining group biography about American matriarchs marrying their daughters to cash-strapped members of the English nobility. A delightful romp, which reads like a novel while imparting delicious details of the era. Gossipy, fun to read,
A Regency? I try to read a little in the genre I write in, but mostly I skip to the end. Regencies are churned out but the dozen, and a lot are full of Americanisms, historical inaccuracies and erotica. The Unyielding Heart, by Clare Montford, another debut author, kept me immersed to the end. Slow burn tension, good writing, characters with great chemistry, subtle historical detail. Here’s the premise: Juliana is being pressured to marry to help her debt-ridden family. Oliver, her reluctant betrothed, is hiding a secret of his own. And Sebastian, newly arrived, sees in Juliana his heart’s desire. Family dynamics, sharp dialogue, stolen romantic moments.
To finish, how about a biography? A Scandalous Life is the story of Jane Digby, an aristocratic beauty who made her London debut in 1824. This staid Regency beginning was followed by a life so original, so outrageous and unexpected as to be almost mythical. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
A celebrated aristocratic beauty, Jane Digby married Lord Ellenborough at seventeen. Their divorce a few years later was one of England’s most scandalous at that time. In her quest for passionate fulfilment she took lovers which included an Austrian prince, King Ludvig I of Bavaria, and a Greek count whose infidelities drove her to the Orient. In Syria, she found the love of her life, a Bedouin nobleman, Sheikh Medjuel el Mezrab who was twenty years her junior.
Happy Reading!
Letters from Athens 