The Cue Card

Hi. I hope everyone is doing great. August is now upon us, and it already seems to be passing too quickly. We need to hold on to summer. Last weekend I went to the mountains in British Columbia with a few tennis friends and we had fun — despite all the wildfire smoke in the air — with some hikes and tennis doubles. We rode the gondola to the top, which is not exactly my favorite thing since I’m a real chicken when it comes to heights. I’ve always had a terrible phobia for being high off the ground, so basically I had to close my eyes to get up there. Somehow I managed thanks to my friends’ constant chitter-chat and luckily I’m still in one piece. 

This weekend I’m flying to California to visit my parents and siblings and hopefully see some beach action too. Woohoo. What novels would you recommend for me to throw into my beach bag?

Granted, I still have much summer reading left on my list to do. But I checked this month’s new releases just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything fantastic. Actually two novels releasing this month (noted below) have already been on my summer reading list so they might be good to pick up now.  

• Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy (out Aug. 3) — I really liked McConaghy’s first novel Migrations last year so I’m keen on this one, which is about twin sisters who go to Scotland to lead a team of biologists that are reintroducing fourteen gray wolves into the remote Highlands. Then a farmer is found dead and the townspeople look to blame the wolves, which sends one of the sisters out on a limb to protect them and find out what happened. 

• The Guide by Peter Heller (comes out Aug. 24) — I’ve liked Heller’s other outdoorsy novels so I’m game again for this one about a young man (Jack) who is hired by a lodge as a fishing guide for clients in a pristine Colorado canyon. It’s a second chance for Jack whose life has been filled with loss, but then he finds out something about the lodge’s operations that isn’t so good. Uh-oh. Judging by Heller’s other novels, I’m guessing Jack will have to fight for survival in the wilderness … and I’m planning to be right there with him, ha.

Other August releases that might also appeal to me are tennis player Billie Jean King’s autobiography All In (out Aug. 17) about her life story … and Rebecca Donner’s biography of Mildred Harnack called All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days (out Aug. 3). Harnack apparently was an American getting a PhD in Germany in the 1930s when the Nazis rose to power. This true story of her life and the underground resistance group she led in Berlin sound quite incredible. Check these books out if they interest you. And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris / Atria / 368 pages / 2021

The first half of this debut novel is darkly funny, scathing in places, and has an interesting and sympathetic protagonist in Nella Rogers, a black editorial assistant working long hours at a renown New York publishing house called Wagner Books. Nella hopes to be promoted to an editor, but after two years there a new black girl (Hazel) arrives at their predominately white workplace and starts getting all the attention. Nella is excited about Hazel being hired to have another black girl in the office, though after awhile she senses something is off about her … and that Hazel is not exactly an ally to Nella in dealing with the office politics going on. 

For instance, when Nella tells her boss and a top author that his novel along with the black character in it are full of tropes, Hazel leaves Nella out to dry in front of them… even though she had encouraged Nella to speak her mind and raise the issue. In addition, Nella starts receiving anonymous threatening notes telling her to quit her job and anxiously tries to find out who is doing it. 

Towards the end, the novel takes a twist that confused me a bit initially, but later I figured it out. Apparently the author was inspired by the Jordan Peele 2017 movie Get Out. If you liked the fantastical elements of that movie, then this one might also be for you. For me, I liked the novel better before it changes and the characters turn so to speak … but that’s mostly near the end and it adds something jolting to think about. 

As a whole, I thought the writing and dialogue were sharp, the tension good, and I was rooting for Nella and her best friend Malaika to figure out what the heck was going on … so I could find out too. The novel’s explorations of racism, black culture, and its rebuke of the white-only world of book publishing are strong stuff. It might not be for everyone, but I’m glad to have found out what all the fuss was about over this debut novel, which I listened to as an audiobook. The audio reader Aja Naomi King does a great job voicing the part of the conflicted Nella and her doubts and vulnerabilities amid her unsettling workplace.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these books and if so, what did you think? 

Hi. How is everyone doing? Boiling yet? We could use some rain here. It’s still smoky and gray from the 257 wildfires in neighboring British Columbia. I think it could last the rest of the summer. This past weekend I was outside officiating a junior tennis tournament and it was tough on the sinuses. Headaches are pretty common if you’re outside for long periods in the smoke. Still the petunias and geraniums are able to handle it … as long as they are watered. My hat goes off to all the firefighters battling these blazes and the heat. They’re heroes out there. 

Now I have the windows closed and the fans on … and I’m watching the Tokyo Olympics, yea. I like seeing all the different sports, so far: skateboarding, beach volleyball, swimming, soccer, triathlon, gymnastics, and cycling … with plenty more to come. Track and field is a favorite. What do you think? Are you into the Games?

I just wish they wouldn’t switch a sport right in the middle of a competition. That’s all I ask. One minute I was watching the men’s triathlon then a few minutes later they switched to the women’s gymnastics. I was like wait whaaa? If you can stream it without the ads, that’s a big plus. By the end of the two weeks I’ll probably have OD’d on it, but for now it’s a lovely diversion. Ha, it might even motivate me to get into the lap pool. Now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews / Little Brown/ 336 pages / 2021 

Synopsis: This novel is about a lowly editorial assistant in New York — Florence Darrow — who gets the break of her career when she is hired as an assistant to a bestselling author who writes under the pseudonym Maud Dixon. Dixon’s debut Mississippi Foxtrot was a big literary hit, but no one really knows who the Southern author is (she’s a bit similar in that regard to today’s Elena Ferrante).

But then when Florence comes to work for her, she finds out she’s the prickly but estimable Helen Wilcox and falls a bit under her spell, learning all she can from the smart and charismatic writer. All seems good until they embark on a research trip for Helen’s next novel to Morocco and later wind up in a car accident. Then things get switched and much mayhem and calamity ensue. 

My Thoughts: This debut novel, which came out in March, turned out to be the perfect summer plot for me. It has all the elements. It’s clever, has some funny lines, plot twists, and the characters are at times diabolical. Florence  and author Helen Wilcox make quite the match for one another; they are equally ambitious and out for their own self-interests. And while they’re not exactly likable, you keep thinking there’ll be a humane side to root for. Towards the end, there’s various plot turns and twists, and though I could tell what would happen at certain points, I still found it pretty entertaining. I listened to the novel as an audiobook performed by Therese Plummer, who seems to nail the characters, and it gave me a few laughs along the way. 

Who Is Maud Dixon? is quite a fun spoof of the publishing/writing world and I found it clever enough to wonder who the author Alexandra Andrews is. Apparently she’s been a journalist and copywriter before writing this debut. This novel was on my summer reading list and so far is my favorite of the ones I’ve finished. We will see if it stays there. I also have two other novels on my summer list that involve the publishing/writing world — Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel The Plot and Zakiya Dalila Harris’s novel The Other Black Girl. Will they be as good? It seems I often fall for these settings and literary plotlines, which can make for some good devious satires.  

That’s all this week. What about you — have you read any of these novels and how is your summer going?  

Hi. Sorry I’ve been missing in action from the blog lately. Summer has been busy. Now the smoke from the British Columbia wildfires has arrived in town so I’m back indoors, trying not to breathe in too many toxins. I am including photos here from the beginning of July before the sky turned gray and when the peony flowers were in bloom. It looked much better then. 

How is everybody’s reading going? I’m sure we all have more than enough to read in our book stacks, but I thought I’d mention several novels releasing this month that are on my radar. I realize the month is already half over but what the heck. It’s never too late to pick up more. Let me know if you have read any of these, or if they seem appealing to you. 

The Paper Palace —  This debut novel looks like a winner of a summer read … set on Cape Cod about a 50-year-old woman at a crossroads over whether to stay with her beloved husband, or pick up with her childhood love whom she would have wound up with if not for a tragic event. Many readers are loving this one. For some reason it reminds me a bit of an old Sissy Spacek / Kevin Kline movie called “Violets Are Blue” from 1986 … which I recall involving similar tough choices that tug at the heartstrings. Does anyone remember it? 

Wayward — After many years of hearing her praise, I still haven’t read a Dana Spiotta novel, so this is my chance. I also like that it’s a novel about motherhood and marriage and a middle-age woman, who attempts to reboot her life after the disastrous Trump election. Uh-oh, we’ve been there! It’s set in Syracuse too. For all those Syracuse fans. The New York Times reviewer really liked this one … but others have been a bit mixed. Still I’m a go.

Razonblade Tears —Ahh the high-octane action plots of S.A. Cosby. I liked his debut crime novel Blacktop Wasteland last summer so I’m pretty sure I’ll like his new one. He sure can write a car chase like a bat out of hell  — though this new one is about two fathers whose murdered sons they team up to avenge. Beware of violence and hold on to your seats.

Intimacies — Oh yeah Kitamura is back. I liked her debut novel A Separation a few years ago though it wasn’t exactly what you thought it’d be, right? Her plots are like meandering psychological meditations. This new one is about a “translator at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where an unidentified head of state is on trial for atrocities in the months before the Brexit vote.” It’s getting quite the talk — though it’s been mixed too — still I’ll get to it. Did you see it made Obama’s summer list? And what do you think about his reading list?!? 

These three others … are my second tier honorable mentions. 

The Embassy Wife — I’m not too sure, but it looks a bit entertaining. It’s a satire of Americans abroad set in Namibia. 

Count the Ways — Joyce’s domestic novels seem popular around the blogosphere, though I haven’t read one since her 2009 book Labor Day. I almost forgot there was a movie made of the book with Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet. Ha, a bit of a pairing, do you remember it?  

The Startup Wife — I’m hoping this one might be a bit clever and fun … in its skewering of startup culture and workaholism, and apparently it has insights about modern relationships, gender politics, and technology. I haven’t read this author before, but she sure seems to be garnering a bit of praise.

All in all, July releases look good. And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately.

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood / Doubleday /368 pages

Synopsis: This debut novel, which was on my summer list, alternates chapters between Anvar, who moves with his family at 14 from Pakistan to San Francisco in 1996, and Safwa in Baghdad, whose family endures hardships during the U.S. war in Iraq and years later makes a risky deal to get to the U.S., winding up in San Fran with her repressive father and her arranged suitor.

Both Anvar and Azza (as Safwa changes her name to) are Muslim immigrants who come to navigate the ways of being in the States. Anvar goes to college, where he goes through a bad breakup with his girlfriend Zuha and then becomes a lawyer. Meanwhile Azza tries to get out of her arranged suitor situation. Later the worlds of Anvar and Azza converge in a finale that yields violence and a reckoning in the aftermath of the 2016 election.  

My Thoughts: I liked hearing about the Muslim perspectives in this novel, which I listened to as an audiobook, especially in light of the issues — like the Muslim ban proposed by the Trump administration — during and after the 2016 election. The lead character Anvar is also quite engaging … in his smart-alecky way. He’s a jokester often about his own faith, religion, and how he navigates things in the U.S. … so he’s a bit refreshing. He seems to have his head and heart in the right place … and much of his parts deal with his love life to Zuha and whether he will get her back. 

Though the novel also seemed to have some flaws to me. I thought it tried to cover too much ground and had some jumps in the plot that are far apart and a bit of a stretch in believability, especially that Azza would get together with Anvar directly after she meets him. She seemed more cautious and not exactly like that from what we know of her beforehand. The story also went on too much and tries to resolve a lot. So while I liked parts of it, I didn’t overly love it. Still I think I’m in the minority about this one, which others seemed to really love. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of the novels mentioned above … and if so, what did you think? 

Happy 4th to those in the U.S. We had a good Canada Day, July 1. It was so hot we took a dip in the river with our Lab Stella leading the way. Yesterday she jumped into the reservoir on her ninth birthday! (photo at left).

Meanwhile for over a week we had a brutal heat wave here, which was a bit unusual for that long and this far north, but apparently a “heat dome” had descended upon much of the Northwest, hovering near 100F /37C  for days on end. That is pretty hot when many homes and buildings here don’t have air-con. Finally some thunderstorms have rolled in and the heat dome has moved on east. Sorry to those in its path. Has it been hot where you are? Of course wildfires are always a worry and it seems British Columbia, our neighbor to the west, is in trouble with many burning out of control there. Gulp, see the fire and smoke forecast here. 

It’s been a bit busy so I haven’t done too much reading. My part-time jobs are keeping me occupied … reviewing fiction for PW and now officiating tennis tournaments, which has restarted again here. I’m just trying to stay cool while out in the sun. Isn’t it a bit incongruous that summer is supposed to be this big reading time of the year — and yet for many it’s the busiest season of all with: family get-togethers, special occasions, and travel, bicycling and plenty of other hobbies, chores, and gardening to do. Do you find it hard to get much reading done? So far I’ve completed just 2 out of 12 on my Summer Reading List … yet I still hope to surge before September. We will see. How are you doing with your list? And now I will leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave/ Simon & Schuster /320 pgs / 2020

Synopsis:  Hannah Hall seems to have the good life. She’s been married a year to her love Owen Michaels, and lives on a houseboat in Sausalito, California, pursuing her woodturning and handmade furniture. She’s still trying to get closer to her 16-year-old stepdaughter Bailey whose mother tragically passed before she knew her. But then the Feds implicate the tech start-up where Owen works for fraud and he mysteriously disappears, leaving a cryptic note for Hannah to protect Bailey. Is he guilty or trying to come clean? Hannah and Bailey end up teaming together to try to figure out what Owen’s involved in and his past. It’s much more than you think. And in the process Hannah and Bailey begin to trust one another. 

My Thoughts:  This made for a good summer kind of audiobook (read by the estimable Rebecca Lowman). Ha, I was out on a stepladder clipping the back hedge, listening and imaging woodturning on a houseboat in Sausalito. Sign me up for this. Then Owen’s start-up is implicated in fraud and he disappears. Uh-oh. I especially liked the beginning and how newly married Hannah and stepdaughter Bailey are left to sort of pick up the pieces and figure out what the heck happened. Their search takes them to Austin, Texas, where they find some clues about Owen’s past. I can’t really say much more than that without giving too much away, but as it goes on its plot caused me a few eye rolls for being a bit of a stretch to believe but still I went with it. Overall it has enough mystery to it and turns to be a decent page-turning summer read, and I liked how the wife Hannah and the stepdaughter who are far apart at first come to be on each other’s side. This was on my summer list, so I get to check it off now. Ha. check. Reminds me a bit of summer lists from those old school days.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this one? And I hope you are staying cool wherever you are. Happy barbecuing!  

Hi. Has your summer ramped up lately? It seems to be getting busier. I’m back from the mountains but still “on the go,” ha. It seems true that Canadians try to rush to get much into their relatively short summers … and still aren’t always successful. The longest day of the year — June 21— has already come and gone — yikes — and the midway point of 2021 will be next week so perhaps now is a good time to evaluate your reading goals and see where you are. Are you on target? hmm … I guess I could be doing a bit better, but I will see how the second half of the year goes. 

This past week was good because I received my second vaccine shot here and passed the Canadian citizenship test, so I’m relieved to have those two things behind me! Apparently I will be contacted sometime about the next steps in the application process. I’m hopeful it won’t be too much longer — it’s been more than a year so far. If it all works out, I will be a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada. I’m excited by this and studied quite a bit to know many particulars about this large and lovely country, where I’ve lived since 2010. 

Also you might have noticed that I didn’t post a June Preview post of new releases at the beginning of the month like I usually do. So I thought I’d just list about six June novels now that look good to me. I haven’t gotten to these yet — have you?  

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (came out June 1)— this is on my Summer Reading List and involves a party in Malibu that gets out of control. Oh yeah.
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• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (June 1) — this too is on my Summer Reading List though a couple bloggers I heard back from DNF’d it, uh-oh. It’s set in the publishing world so I think I still plan to give it a try. 
• The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (June 1) — This debut novel is getting some good praise and seems to be a fresh retelling of The Great Gatsby from a queer Asian girl’s perspective. Ohh. 
• The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris (June 15) — This historical fiction debut is said to live up to the hype of being picked for Oprah’s Book Club and is about two freed black brothers in Georgia just after the end of the Civil War. 
• All Together Now by Matthew Norman (June 15) — Many bloggers seem to swear by this author who’s written a few other funny, warm-hearted novels, so this new one — about one last party between friends — could be just the right thing for the beach.  
• The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi (June 22) — This is the sequel by the author of The Henna Artist, which I enjoyed as an audiobook in March. Will she deliver again with her lively storytelling? 

And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

Northern Spy by Flynn Berry / Viking / 288 pages / 2021

This is a story about two sisters in Belfast, Northern Ireland …. and one of them Miriam has secretly been involved with the underground Irish Republican Army  for years, and the other sister Tessa, who shockingly learns of this, narrates the story and what happens thereafter. Tessa, who works at the BBC, is a new mother to Finn and doesn’t want to get involved with her sister’s troubles … but somehow she gets roped in along the way. 

The story is more of a slow-burn plot … and a lot of the meanderings seem to be the thoughts inside Tessa’s head … about her sister and her worries for her baby son and what to do. Admittedly I got a bit tired of Tessa by the end. And Miriam asks way too much of her sister … so you sort of want to shake some sense into them both along the way. 

It seems to take place in the present … and made me wonder how active the IRA is nowadays. Apparently there are splinter groups and one called the New IRA that has caused some violence. But I wasn’t sure how accurate this plot was exactly, though it made me think of being in that nerve-wracking situation, so it ended up being a fairly good audiobook. 

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan / Thomas Nelson / 416 pages / 2018

I first came to know about the 1950s love story between poet Joy Davidman and Narnia author C.S. Lewis from the 1993 movie Shadowlands starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger … which I recall being a real tear-jerker. Then after my beloved German shepherd passed away in 1995 a friend sent me C.S. Lewis’s book A Grief Observed about managing loss in the wake of a death, which left a big impression on me … so of course I had to revisit the love story between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis once again, which this novel is about. And I wasn’t disappointed. 

Granted it’s a long biographical kind of story from Joy’s narration … and it goes on at length about her life in New York and how her first marriage turns bad and how she starts up a correspondence with lay theologian C.S. Lewis in Oxford, England, whom she thinks might be of help with her faith and her marriage. Later she meets the famous author, who’s called Jack and is about 54 years old while she is 37. He’s never been married and isn’t looking to be. Though she eventually moves with her two sons to England, and Jack and her continue for quite a long time to have a close platonic friendship, though Joy begins to want more after she divorces her first husband. That seems to be the angst of the plot … will they ever become more? Or will it be too late for them both? 

I listened to the novel as an audiobook and followed it closely as their lives went around and around and I realized how much they depended on each other creatively and as close friends. He taught at Oxford and then at Cambridge while writing his books, and she continued to write fiction and poems as well. In the end I was quite captured by the portrayal of the two. Theirs was a love story in the 1950s so improbable and great, yet it became a reality despite all the many obstacles. Though it gets a bit exasperating waiting for Mr. Lewis to get onboard. He’s a bit  immune to romantic love until finally he realizes Joy might not be there forever.   

The story seems to hit on the right emotions of their lives together, as well as some of their written works. And the author’s enthusiasm for them — and getting right what happened — shines through. Granted you probably need to be a bit interested in C.S. Lewis or Joy Davidman beforehand to really enjoy this novelization, but I thought it was quite good. Joy shows a great deal of courage along the way and was a gifted writer in her own right. My only slight criticism is that the novel could’ve been edited shorter.  

As a footnote: there’s also an interesting seven-episode podcast at the end of the audiobook that interviews scholars and others, such as Joy’s son and Jack’s stepson who is still alive, that explores more about their faith, lives, and written works. You can find that free podcast separately wherever you get podcasts as Becoming Mrs. Lewis. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and if so, what did you think? 

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We are away in the mountains for our anniversary and so I will leave just a short post with some pictures. We are bicycling with friends around the Banff and Lake Louise area and the sights have been pretty spectacular. It’s our first trip away since last fall so it’s been refreshing.

Visitors here are required to wear masks on the main streets, and the restaurants we’ve been to have been on outside patios or rooftops. But things are opening up and summer is pretty much here in all its glory! Our province is starting to roll out the second vaccine shots, which we will get by next week.  

I haven’t done much reading here, but we are “on the go” so it’s to be expected. I look forward to catching up with all of you and what you’re reading when we get back later this week. I wanted to thank all of those who stopped by and commented for my Q & A with author S. Kirk Walsh last week as that post was a bit new and special for the blog, so many thanks. And thanks to Kirk for making it possible. It was quite a treat to hear about the making of her terrific debut novel. 

Also congrats to Louise Erdrich whose novel The Night Watchman just won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in the U.S. Wow. I had enjoyed the audiobook of the novel last year, which follows members of the Chippewa tribe as they fight for their lands in the 1950s. Erdrich continues to be at the top of her powers and many of her latest novels have received awards. Have you read The Night Watchman and if so, what did you think? And now I’ll leave you with a few thoughts about what I finished lately. 

Petra by Shaena Lambert / Random House Canada / 304 pages / 2020

I can’t recall where I heard about this novel by a Canadian author, but I’m glad I did. I listened to it as an audiobook and knew nothing about the real person who it’s based on beforehand, but then I became quite captured by Petra’s life story. The novel is historical fiction about Petra Kelly, who was a political activist and a founding member of the German Green Party that rose to prominence in the 1980s. 

The story follows Petra’s days giving speeches and inspiring thousands at the height of the Cold War in 1980 to protest the placement of nuclear missiles in West Germany. Manfred Schwartz, an ex-lover of Petra’s and a Green Party colleague narrates the story, telling of their work together and how Petra gets involved with a NATO general, Emil Gerhardt who shocks the military by converting and campaigning for the Green Party’s peace cause.  

Uh-oh, it turns out the General had once fought with the Nazis, and Manfred, who clearly is still smitten with her, questions Petra about getting involved with him. Is the General for real or is there something else to his life and motives? You won’t know until near the novel’s end. Meanwhile Petra’s depicted as this very inspiring left wing figure fighting for peace and environmental causes, yet she also seems personally complicated. In the later 1980s-early 1990s, the story follows as she becomes more estranged from Manfred and the Party and her fate ultimately turns tragic. 

Apparently the author had seen Petra Kelly speak at a rally in Vancouver in the mid-1980s and was very taken with her. She seemed to be an electrifying force who had much success fighting for causes and leading Germany’s Green Party to prominence, but what happens to her felt like a light going out in the world, which the story heart-wrenchingly captures. I wish I had known about Petra then, but perhaps I was too caught up with going to university at the time. It’s a fascinating and moving novel of her real-life story, delving into both the movement and her personal relationships. Kudos to author Shaena Lambert for vividly bringing her and the Cold War era to life. It’s a novel deserving of accolades, and I will watch for whatever the author puts out next. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this author or recall Petra Kelly? And how is your June going? 

Hi. I hope everyone had a great week. It’s been surprisingly hot here. I’m very excited this week to post a Q & A with author S. Kirk Walsh whose debut novel The Elephant of Belfast came out in April and I reviewed last week. Have you ever wanted to know the details behind the story of a great read? I find especially with enticing historical fiction I’m curious beyond all heck to know more after I turn the last page. Who were these people? And did what took place really happen like that? And how did the writing of the story come together? Do you ever wonder such things? Well lately such interesting historical fiction has piqued my curiosity. 

And as my review last week mentioned: The Elephant of Belfast is a story about a female zookeeper (Hettie) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during WWII … whose home life has been tough and who comes to care for a three-year-old elephant (Violet) at the zoo. It’s about what happens to them when the Germans begin to bomb the city in 1941. It’s a wonderful, evocative story inspired by true-life events. I was quite taken with it, so I reached out to the author and she very kindly answered my questions and is letting our Q & A be posted here. (It doesn’t ruin the story.) I hope you find her novel and answers as fascinating as I do. She supplied the wonderful photographs.

1) Can you tell me about how you found out about this real-life Irish female zookeeper who worked at the Belfast Zoo during the Luftwaffe bombing raids of WWII? And how much time you spent in Belfast researching parts of the story? It seems like you knew the city of Belfast well. 

Walsh: My novel was inspired by Denise Austin, the first female zookeeper at the Belfast Zoo. I heard about her story on the radio in 2009 after her identity had been discovered by the zoo. After hearing the story of Denise and her young elephant charge named Sheila, I thought the idea might make for a good novel. 

A few years later, in the summer of 2013, my husband and I spent about two weeks in Belfast. There, I interviewed zookeepers, historians, and survivors of the Belfast Blitz. Once I returned home, I did more research at the New York Public Library, where one can find maps of Belfast from the 1930s, wartime photography taken by The Belfast Telegraph, and microfilms of the Mass Observation Archive (which focuses more on the day-to-day life of wartime Britain). 

The scholar/historian Brian Barton—author of the definitive history of the Blitz titled The Belfast Blitz: The City in the War Years—also provided a lot of guidance and read the manuscript a few times for historical accuracy.

2)  Also can you tell me about what the real zookeeper was like and how long she lived?  Is she credited with saving the elephant? And did she really have to relocate the elephant during the bombings in WWII?

Walsh: Similar to my protagonist, Denise Austin was about twenty years old when the Germans bombed Belfast. She lived with her parents on the Whitewell Road. During the evenings leading up to the bombings, Denise walked Sheila to her home and then returned the three-year-old elephant to the zoo during the day (following the Crazy Path, as described in the novel). The zoo staff didn’t know about these activities until the elephant chased a dog one day and damaged a neighbor’s fence and property. “That was the end of the elephant taking a holiday every night,” David Ramsey, Denise’s cousin, explained to me when I met him in Belfast. Instead, Denise stayed with Sheila in her enclosure at the zoo during the bombings (a little different from my fictional retelling). It’s unclear how big of a role Denise played in saving Sheila’s life. 

After the war and her employment at the zoo, Denise went on to become a nurse with the Army and then traveled widely (mostly on international cruises). Ramsey described Denise as having “a great laugh.” She never married; her boyfriend drowned on the Princess Victoria ship when the ferry sank during a windstorm in the North Sea on January 31^st, 1953. Austin died in 1997.

3) Were the German bombing raids extensive in Belfast? 

Walsh: There were three nights of bombings in Belfast: April 7^th, April 15^th, and May 4^th. The Easter Tuesday raids depicted in my novel reflect what happened during these aerial attacks; many of the details are borrowed from the survivors who I interviewed for the novel. I decided not to include the May 4^th bombings (The Fire Raid) because I couldn’t put my characters through more devastation.

In addition to the interviews with the Belfast Blitz survivors, I drew from my own experience of living in Manhattan during the terrorist attacks of September 11^th.  

4) In the story, Hettie seems to be a very forgiving person — first with Samuel Greene and his actions and then with her brother-in-law Liam’s actions. Why do you think Hettie is like this?

Walsh: In a way, her father, Thomas, prepares Hettie for this kind of forgiveness. He is a father who has loved her, but hasn’t been present in her life in a consistent matter. Hettie is young, but by the end of the novel, she discovers an unexpected maturity due to the devastation and loss. As a twenty-year-old, I made a lot of mistakes and missteps, and it was only when I was a bit older that I could see my own flaws but also forgive the behavior of others around me. Hettie perhaps experiences this in a more compressed manner because trauma and crisis often accelerates growth and understanding.

5) The way you wrote about Violet and her bond with Hettie made it seem like you understand animals’ sensibilities and their specialness … Are you an animal person? Did that part draw you to write the story? And how much research into elephants did you do? The elephant Violet is just wonderfully portrayed in the book.

Walsh: I am an animal person. I grew up with cats and dogs, and they were important to me. That said, I was more drawn to the location of the novel (Northern Ireland) than the animal (Sheila the elephant). My dad’s side of the family comes from Ireland, and I knew that I would write something set there, but didn’t realize that I would end up writing about the North.

For the elephant research, I paid several visits to the Houston Zoo. They have a large family of Asian elephants, and at the time of my visits (late 2013), two of the elephants were three years old (the age of the elephant in the novel). I was very fortunate that the zoo allowed me to wash one of the young elephants (named Tupelo). I did write an essay for Texas Monthly about my research at the Houston Zoo: Readers can read it here.

6) Were you aware of or had you read Diane Ackerman’s book The Zookeeper’s Wife, which takes place in Poland? It’s quite a different story (about hiding people during the war) … but it is also an interesting look at a zoo during wartime and some of the animals.

Walsh: Yes, I’m aware of Ackerman’s novel, but I didn’t read it because I didn’t want to be influenced by her story. There are several World War II novels that I haven’t read yet: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, and others, which I hope to read at some point in the future.

7) How long did the novel take to write? And are you working on another novel now? If so, will your next one be historical fiction?

Walsh: It took me about six years to write and research The Elephant of Belfast. I wrote about sixteen drafts of the manuscript. It took a long time to develop the emotional narrative arc of Hettie and Violet even though I already knew a great deal about their story. I’m working on a new novel about Detroit, Michigan, during World War II. Same time period, different location, and a different set of complications and tensions. It’s tentatively titled Detroit Days.

And that’s a wrap for the Q & A. Wow, thanks so much to S. Kirk Walsh for all her wonderful info and photos and letting us in on the writing and research of her terrific debut novel The Elephant of Belfast. I hope many get to read it. In learning more about it, I was amazed by how much the novel followed what actually happened there in 1940-41 and brought it to life.

Let me know what you think of the Q & A … as I might try to do more in the future. Have a great week everyone. 

Hi there. I hope those in the States are having a very lovely Memorial Day weekend. In Canada we had our long weekend last weekend so we are beyond that now, ha. The weather has turned gorgeous here, and I’m madly planting my tomato plants, and my husband and I are bike riding into the countryside. It’s been a quick and welcome change.  

But I had a busy past week so I didn’t get to see as much of PW’s U.S. Book Show as I wanted to, though I heard the interview with author Anthony Doerr about his new novel “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” which is coming out in September. It sounds pretty wild as it apparently follows three separate storylines in different eras: from the past, present, and future. I hope I won’t be lost by it. I did like his last novel “All the Light We Cannot See,” so I plan to check it out once it’s available.

Other than that I’m holding off on putting together a June Preview post as I ran out of time this past week — summer must be here! — but I’ll leave you instead with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

The Elephant of Belfast by S. Kirk Walsh / Counterpoint Press / 2021

This moving debut novel, which is based on a true story about a female zookeeper in Northern Ireland during WWII, captured me hook, line, and sinker. And like much good historical fiction it opened up a world little known to me and taught me a bit in the process. 

When the story opens in 1940, the protagonist Hettie Quinn, age 20, is down at the docks helping the zoo director and others to off-load a three-year-old Asian elephant coming off a ship and to guide her to the Belfast Zoo. Lately Hettie’s life has been full of sorrow ever since her sister Anna died in childbirth a few months ago. Her father has also flown the coop, and a sad pall has settled over the house where she lives with her mother. Her one outlet is the zoo where she works and wants to become a full-time zookeeper … hopefully to the captivating new elephant Violet. In time she’s given the chance when the male zookeepers go off to fight in the war.  

Hettie and Violet come to form an endearing bond and caring for the elephant gives Hettie a new sense of purpose, helping to heal some of the sadness over the loss of her sister. Though there’s worrisome talk in town about whether the Germans will bomb Belfast, or if they will be spared. Along the way, Hettie gets mixed up in the attention of three boys, namely Ferris, another zookeeper who’s her friend from her school days; and Samuel Greene, the butcher’s son who’s a ladies man and is training to become a cop; and also Liam, her brother-in-law who’s the father to her niece Maeve and involved with the IRA. Uh-oh. 

How it plays out with them is all quite intriguing, especially when tragedy strikes and the German bombs being to fall on Belfast on the evening of Easter 1941. Hettie runs to the zoo to check on Violet and there they get set on a path that will end up changing their lives. You’ll want to read on to find out what happens to them as the city becomes thrown into carnage and ruins. It’s a story that brings vividly to life the horrifying bombing effects and what people there went through. I guess I didn’t realize beforehand that the Luftwaffe bombed that far north and west, but tragically they did with devastating results. 

There’s some sad, unsettling parts to the story but also some very moving parts amid the chaos. I can’t say too much else, or I’ll give it away. But as a total animal lover, I particularly liked how the story captured the goodness and the bond with Violet the elephant, who is wonderfully portrayed in the novel. It also in many respects shined a light on the resilience of those — like Hettie — who under such dire circumstances withstand and rise to the occasion. The characters are all well-drawn as are the setting and the era. I’m sure the novel will end up on my list of favorite debuts of 2021 … as the story hit the mark quite indelibly.  

Stay tuned here next week for an interesting Q&A with the author!!  

The Truants by Kate Weinberg / G.P. Putnam’s Sons / 320 pages / 2020

Many of us love a good (sort of) creepy school campus-set story, right?  Isn’t that why Donna Tartt’s novel “The Secret History” was so popular? Well if you do, then you might want to toss this novel onto your stack. It’s probably less creepy than Tartt’s but still unsettling.  

Weinberg’s debut novel is a slow-burn of a coming-of-age kind of story that has a couple twists toward the end. British girl Jess Walker narrates the story, looking back on what traumatic thing happened during her college days six years ago. She went to university in East Anglia and there signs up for a class by professor Lorna Clay who becomes her mentor and someone she idolizes for her mind and her book called “The Truants” about creative types who’ve succeeded by breaking the rules. Jess signs up for Lorna’s lit class on Agatha Christie in which Lorna mentions the circumstances surrounding Christie’s mysterious disappearance for 11 days in 1926 after finding out about her husband’s affair. (Hmm note to self: be on the look out for clues in this novel.) 

In time Jess becomes friends on campus with Georgie, Nick, and a South African journalist named Alec who’s on a fellowship. The good looking Georgie and Alec pair up, and then Jess and Nick … and you get to know them all quite well … but love triangles emerge that threaten their friendships … as well as Jess’s obsessive friendship outside of class with her enigmatic professor Lorna Clay, who eventually reveals her past with one of them.

You have to hold on for quite awhile to find out about all the betrayals and tragic consequences in this novel … but how it affects Jess feels quite palpable even many years later. It’s a college-age story with quite a bite … as one in their group ends up dead and you yearn to find out how and why. I listened to the audiobook version and it held me for many miles of walking and a week or two of listening. I’ll be curious to see what the author puts out next.

That’s all for now. The good news is: the outdoor tennis and golf Covid restrictions are lifting here this coming week, and hair salons and a few other things are going to open again. What a relief. What about you — how have you been and have you read these novels, and if so, what did you think? 

I hope everyone had a good week. Last week most of the leaves on the trees and flowers came out here. We have Canadian long weekend now and usually we are away, but not this year. We are still waiting on authorities to lift Covid restrictions. So not much is new, but I listened to an enjoyable virtual book chat this week through the History Book Festival with author Lisa Scottoline. She usually writes thrillers but came out with her first historical novel called “Eternal” in March. It appears to involve a love triangle between three childhood friends who come of age in Italy during WWII. I haven’t read it yet but will add it to my ever-growing pile. Scottoline was a hoot during the talk and also quite informative about her writing of the book. She seems to have done a lot of research for it and it looks good, which is awesome since I’ve been hooked on historical fiction lately.  

Also you might remember it was announced in December that the trade show BookExpo would be discontinued … but luckily this week Publishers Weekly is putting on a new virtual U.S. Book Show (May 25, 26, 27), so I plan to check it out. I’m a reviewer for PW so I’m getting access, though I think you can still sign up for a fee if you want to attend. It should have numerous virtual publisher “booths” and “rooms” to listen to panels and author events. Some of the panels will discuss aspects of the publishing industry, while others will be geared towards libraries and librarians, and others towards bookselling. I think it will also highlight books coming out in the fall. So there should be a lot to hear about. I will try to report back about it next week. 

And for this week, while I don’t have any reviews to post, I thought instead I would post my Summer Book List. I know Cathy over at the blog 746 Books is hosting this summer challenge, which will basically go from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, so I thought I’d join in the fun. I guess to me an iconic “summer read” is something one can read at the beach or on their back deck. A beach read to me shouldn’t be too angst-filled, depressing, violent, dense, heart-breaking, preachy, or overly serious. It should instead be more: riveting, suspenseful, fun, well-paced, readable, easily accessible, escape-filled, and something you can totally sink into. You know what I’m talking about. So with that in mind: below are my 12 summer reads (all from 2021!) that I hope to get to by Labor Day weekend. I purposefully made it 12 Books because it fit my graphic ha … and because I will likely get distracted and read others along the way. In the fall, I can return to more serious, deeper reads, right?

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood (February)
Who Is Maud Dixon by Alexandra Andrews (March)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (March)
Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (April)
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (May)
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (June)
When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain (April)
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (May)
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (May)
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (June)
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy (August)
The Guide by Peter Heller (August)

What do you think of my summer list? Much to enjoy I hope. And of course making the list is half the fun. Do you have a summer list? That’s all for now. Have a great week and I’ll chat with you next time. 

Greetings. I hope you’ve had a good week. It seems the CDC created a bit of uncertainty lately when they announced suddenly that fully vaccinated people in the U.S. can now be indoors and outdoors without wearing masks in most places, which prompted such companies as Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and Costco to lift mask mandates, but other businesses to keep them. As of May 15, 36.7 percent of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated. I just wonder: whether it’s too soon to drop masks? I’m sure the vaccines are highly effective, but I sort of thought they’d wait until more of the population was vaccinated. And who’s to know who’s been fully vaccinated. Hmm, the CDC it seems has jumped from one end of the spectrum to the other in their recommendations. 

Meanwhile we remain under strict restrictions here in Canada, many public places are closed and in our province they continue to ban outdoor golf and tennis for those from different households, ugh. Recently there was an interesting British study that found that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine generates antibody responses three-and-a-half times larger in older people when a second dose is delayed to 12 weeks after the first injection. I guess this is good news for us since people here must wait months apart to be able to get their second vaccine shot. So apparently the shot will be quite a protector once we are (finally) called up to get it.  

Meanwhile it’s been a warm and wonderful weekend with much gardening and bike rides here. We will likely be ready to plant the vegetable garden next weekend. Hooray, spring will soon be in its full glory. Above are some tulips that wanted to be the first to bloom. And now, I will leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell / Knopf / 320 pages / 2020

This novel was on many Best-Of lists last year and picked up quite a few awards, namely the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Awards among others. I took my sweet time getting to it, but I knew I eventually would. It’s historical fiction, which I’ve been loving lately, and I knew beforehand that it would be about Shakespeare’s family and the apparent loss of his son, age 11, who I never knew about (he was a twin!) and who happened to have the same-ish name as one of the bard’s most famous plays — “Hamlet.” My curiosity was piqued.

Apparently much remains unknown about Shakespeare’s life … but it’s true he lived more than 400 years ago (1564 to 1616) and grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His father (who’s abusive in the novel) was said to be a leatherworker who made gloves, and Shakespeare married when he was 18 to Anne Hathaway, age 26, (called Agnes in the novel), who was already expecting their first child Susanna. Then three years later in 1585 they had twins: Judith and Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son. At some point Shakespeare moved to London to work in the theater, while his wife stayed in Stratford with the children. Then something happened that struck at home. Was it the Plague? 

Perhaps it’s likely. O’Farrell’s novel takes these threads of Shakespeare’s real life and weaves quite a realistic story about the family’s domestic existence. The novel, which I listened to as an audiobook, started slowly for me while I was getting my bearings about the family and the late 1500s, but by the story’s end I was totally immersed in their world. It’s very lyrically told and alternates between two storylines: the past — about how Shakespeare and his wife come to meet and their marriage; and the present — with Hamnet looking for help for his twin sister Judith, who’s become ill. 

It surprised me a bit that the tale comes mostly from Shakespeare’s wife Agnes. She’s the central character of the book. And the name of William Shakespeare never really appears in the novel — early on he’s the “Latin teacher” and later Agnes’s husband. The story focuses on their marriage quite a bit, which makes it interesting … as scholars apparently have wondered whether their marriage was a strained one. He lived in London a lot of the time, which is about 80 miles from her in Stratford, so it might not have been all roses. The Plague, too, features prominently in the story, which gives it a timely perspective to our own pandemic. Both forced closures and sometimes crazy remedies. And there’s plenty of birthing, dying, and plague and pestilence in this … as well as heartbreaking grief. 

O’Farrell does a wondrous job opening up the family’s world and putting you there. It made me imagine the playwright’s life and times in ways I’d never thought about before. The ending too is cleverly done … with Agnes winding up in London and seeing and reacting to her husband’s play. The last chapter, which is a long one, was my favorite of the novel. I’m sure it’ll make me see the play “Hamlet” in a whole new light, knowing now about what Shakespeare went through just four years before. 

Kudos to O’Farrell for her talent in writing this. I’m curious to go back sometime and read her 2017 memoir “I Am, I Am, I Am,” which others have liked. I also want to go back and watch Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 movie of “Hamlet,” which I never saw. Did you? 

That’s all for now. What about you — have read this novel or author, and if so, what did you think? And how are you doing?