tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70480131489852082892024-03-13T10:55:21.392+00:00With thanks to Mrs WardAvid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-23037843806522855242013-12-29T09:16:00.001+00:002013-12-29T09:21:29.230+00:00Meek J The heart broke inDreadful title! It comes midway through the book in an odd little anecdote. Neither anecdote not title work for me. Get past that: it's a book worth reading. But set aside a few weeks. It's a hefty commitment. If I were this book's editor it would lose none if its length and complexity. But it would have a new title. I'd call it: <b>A Moral Foundation</b>. That's better. If publishing houses want exclusive rights to my natural talents feel free to get in touch. Money talks.<br />
<br />
What's the book about? It's about morality (hence: better title). There is much immorality in this book. It's also about family, love, and posterity. Please note: this book contains scientists doing science. They are also portrayed as people, with lives and everything. How novel!<br />
<br />
First line<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The story doing the rounds at Ritchie Shepherd's production company was accurate when it appeared inside the staff's heads, when they hardly sensed it, let alone spoke it.</blockquote>
last line<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
After all, had her father fought his way back to her, she wouldn't have begrudged him the longing for his own freedom, the longing to feel the wind and sun on his own skin again, if only it had helped him get home.</blockquote>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-43014818590387409782013-12-29T09:04:00.000+00:002013-12-29T09:21:47.358+00:00Barry B The lace reader***As endorsed by the Daily Express***<br />
<br />
Do not be put off by the company this book keeps, or by the dreadfully written blurb. It's not disposable crap about the supernatural. It's a very readable, but thoughtful, novel of women and lives torn apart by male violence. Several of the characters are broken, but there's hope.<br />
<br />
I really enjoyed reading this one. I also learned something of the geography and history of Salem and its coastline: a town we all 'know' and which is a distinct character of the book.<br />
<br />
Recommended.<br />
<br />
First line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My name is Towner Whiney. No, that's not exactly true. My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time.</blockquote>
<br />
Last line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The words I say back to her are the same words she said to me that day so long ago: <i>The spell is broken. You are free.</i></blockquote>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-326866188673977372013-12-28T14:18:00.000+00:002013-12-29T09:28:12.118+00:00Scott Card O, Ender's GamePicked this up on impulse in the library, after hearing lots about the current film that, let's face it, I'll probably not bother going to see. An odd little novel, where the threat of global destruction makes an all powerful government reliant on the abilities of children. Ender is six when his adventures start. You can't tell from the characterisation, so occasionally the author clunkily reminds you.<br />
<br />
Readable. Disposable.<br />
<br />
First line<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get.</blockquote>
last line (spoilerish, but this book is nearly as old as I am, so fair game, I reckon)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And always Ender carried with him a dry white cocoon, looking for the world where the hive-queen could awaken and thrive in peace. He looked a long time.</blockquote>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-9259117224070631742013-11-10T14:20:00.003+00:002013-12-29T09:22:34.086+00:00Block L 2008 Hit and runOur hero is a hit man on the verge of retirement. This is from the 'one last job' genre. It's a hell of a read, and if life hadn't intervened Id have read it in one sitting. It's very much a - What Happens Next? I must know! - type of book.<br />
<br />
On reflection though, there are questions to be asked about the love interest. Appearing about a third of the way through the book this sensible, kind, middle aged teacher / carer is a bit too accepting of her mister's habit of shooting strangers for money. Seriously? She's very decent. Not one wobble about shacking up with a mass murderer? No concerns at all about moving in with a mobster? Perhaps my standards are higher than most women's, but Id like to think that this is a back-story that would make me think quite hard about a new boyfriend.<br />
<br />
Fun read.<br />
<br />
First line<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Keller drew his pair of tongs from his breast pocket and carefully lifted a stamp from its glassine envelope.</blockquote>
<br />
Last line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Bifocals, and I have to tell you I can see the improvement when I work on my stamps"<br />
"Well," she said, "that's important."</blockquote>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-71194824357965067142013-11-04T20:40:00.000+00:002013-11-04T20:40:33.538+00:00Rusch KK 2004 Consequences: A Retrieval Artist novelI like this series, which is good because there are plenty of them and they're dirt cheap on Kindle. There have been some after-midnight impulse buys when I've finished one book and need to carry on reading. Once upon a time I fought the e-reader thing...<br />
<br />
The premise is fascinating. In a universe where many alien cultures are interacting with each other whose morals, and whose justice system prevails? Rusch's answer is that justice is relative, and her protagonist Miles Flint struggles hard with the morality of that.<br />
<br />
Flint is obscenely super-wealthy. That's unusual in a detective story. Everything else about him, though, follows detective-story expectations: he's an ex-cop; he's got a prickly relationship with a cop in high places upon which a plot point will turn; he's a computer genius and hacks something unhackable regularly; he has a Tragic Back Story and is Damaged (but not irreparably). I sound sarcastic and I'm not: I have a real love of Rusch's writing. The books are fun, the plots are internally consistent and satisfying things happen at the end. Also - aliens!<br />
<br />
First line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Kovacs huddled against the edge of the crevasse. Below him, the massive rip in the glacier extended several hundred meters, narrowing as it deepened. He had no idea how deep the crevasse was, but he knew that a fall would kill him.</blockquote>
Last line:<br />
Unquotable. Despite the aliens these are private eye stories. The last line is always a spoiler.Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-42586460221402959732013-10-22T15:26:00.001+01:002013-10-22T15:27:00.597+01:00Empire & enlightenmentThe Enlightenment is a search for an objective, universal understanding of the world, not driven by divinity. The systemic search for knowledge starts in the eighteenth century.<br />
<br />
"Thinking like a global historian is considering connections", says Prof, who takes his time talking about tea in the mid 1700s. Why? Because tea houses became meeting places for gentlemen of leisure, who use the public sphere to think about politics and science and feed their radical thinking with caffeine and sugar. Just like we do today.<br />
<br />
Here's a fact I should've known. Captain James Cook - Mr Science - died in Hawaii after locals thought that actually they wouldn't like to be collected and shipped back to England. These specimens fought back.<br />
<br />
Oo! OO!! Prof mentions women. Imagine that! He talks about the Wealth of Nations and says the relations between men and women "are going to be an important part of the story". Of course I acknowledge that for much of history and in much of the world 'people' were men and women weren't considered as a category. But hey, we're modern historians. We can analyse the past using categories - like gender - that maybe our ancestors didn't use. I am excited! Women are going to be part of the story! An <i>important</i> part! Let's find out more...<br />
<br />
Mary Wollstonecraft - women are creatures of reason too. If the newly proclaimed laws of Enlightenment thinking don't apply to women then - d'oh! - they are not objective and universal. Atta girl.<br />
<br />
Sadly, today that was all we had to learn about women. Prof moves onto the way the Enlightenment created categorisations of race, and shows us Casta Paintings: images of mixed race couples with their children. At least, that's what he sees. I see European men with native women (Indian, Mexican, Moorish, African) and their children. I don't see paintings of Native men with European women. I don't hear any discussion of power and priviledge. Prof, I know you're not a sociologist, but seriously mate this is beginners observation. You can do better than this.<br />
<br />
Two important eighteenth century books I've never read and probably never will.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations </li>
<li>Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Women. </li>
</ul>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-83053018917967005992013-10-20T20:10:00.001+01:002013-10-20T20:10:24.107+01:00Richard Parkes Bonnington 1802 - 1828Poor Richard. Died aged just 25 from TB, with the first 16 years of his life spent in Arnold, Notts. Luckily, after moving to Paris in 1818 (where Dad used Nottingham-know-how to set up a lace factory) Richard discovered Travel and went off to see, and paint, the sights of Europe.<br />
<br />
If you know anything about nineteenth century French art history then you'll be impressed by the impressiveness of Richard's tutors, peers and pals. I know very little about this, so I'm assuming Wikipedia has got this right. The National Gallery - which definately knows - says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Bonington was one of the most important artists of the early nineteenth century, vital to the understanding of French and British art of the Romantic period. His range included history and subject paintings, and landscapes, highly-finished works and sketches, all imbued with a brilliance and sureness of touch which was greatly admired both during and after his lifetime.</span></blockquote>
So there! Arnold boy made good.<br />
<br />
<br />
Where did this information come from? The <a href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/richard-parkes-bonington" target="_blank">National Gallery</a> and the great BBC website <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/richard-parkes-bonington" target="_blank">'Your paintings'</a>Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-21527872413352984602013-10-18T14:38:00.000+01:002013-10-18T14:38:14.583+01:00Watson Fothergill, architect (1841 - 1928)<br />
His Mum was Mary Ann Fothergill. His Dad was Robert Watson. They called their baby Fothergill Watson but in a fit of proto-feminism(?) he swapped things round; renaming himself Watson Fothergill in 1892. What's the psychology of that then? Dad had died in 1853 when young FW was 12. He started his professional practice in 1862, aged 21. And then - aged 51 - he changes his name. Odd. I suppose there were no flash cars with which to express a mid life crisis in Victorian England.<br />
<br />
Fothergill married into beer - Anne Hage his wife was daughter of one of the three founders of Mansfield Brewery. They marry in 1867 and have seven children. The boys die young and childless; making his decision to adopt his Mum's family name sadly ineffectual.<br />
<br />
Anne dies in 1922 - a 55 year marriage. Fothergill is buried in Castle Rock cemetery - <a href="http://nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/nottingham-famous-graves-watson-fothergill/" target="_blank">an odd little monument</a> that I've walked past and not noticed. When I'm next there, I'll check to see if the wife and kids are in nearby plots.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/21/15/1211550_1169378a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/21/15/1211550_1169378a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clawson Lodge, now the Ukranian Centre</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fothergill's architecture is impressive, if you like the Victorian gothic look. Over 100 distinctive Fothergill buildings in the city and a few in the county. Sadly, Nottingham's redevelopment in the 1970s was thoughtlessly disrespectful and many buildings were destroyed in favour of crappy modernist blocks that don't stand the test of time What remains, though, is prestige.<br />
<br />
Where did I get my information from? Why, the <a href="http://www.watsonfothergill.co.uk/" target="_blank">Watson Fothergill society</a>, of course. And then, after I'd written the above, I found <a href="http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/watson-fothergill/id/827#.UmEvjxafdcw" target="_blank">this Left Lion article</a> and discovered I'm not the first person to make the mid life crisis crack. Oh well. Which of us is truly original?Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-84288806064851941132013-10-17T11:26:00.003+01:002013-10-17T11:26:30.671+01:00Nell Gwynn & Bestwood Park<h3>
Life lesson: if a King falls for your Great Great (etc) Grandma you'll be a comfortably off family for a while</h3>
<div>
Nell Gwynn: actress, mistress, mum. Her affair with Charles II didn't start with a glance across a crowded room. Rather, she was one of a number of women pimped out by the Duke of Buckingham until Charles agreed a price. The affair lasted from 1668 - when Nell was 18 and the King was 38 - until his death in 1685. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
King Charles II - a hedonistic royal after a time of Puritan chill - had a dozen or more mistresses, a wife, and an awful lot of children. None of the 'legitimate' children lived though, and his brother James succeeded as King. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
Nell had two sons: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Charles, who became Duke of Beauclerk and Duke of St Albans and </li>
<li>James, who died aged 9.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
Many gifts came Nell's way, including several estates. I liked this story, quoted from the <a href="http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/enjoying/countryside/countryparks/bestwood/history/" target="_blank">Notts county council website</a>. Sometimes, it's worth getting up early:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
The popular story is that <strong>Charles II</strong> and his guests, when staying in the lodge, would tease poor Nell for sleeping in and missing a good morning's sport. Charles II offered to gift to Nell, "All the land she could ride around before breakfast," and was surprised the next day to find Nell sitting for breakfast before the King and all the guests. It was claimed she had ridden out early, dropping handkerchiefs along her route, and the encircled area became Bestwood Park. But that is just a popular story...</div>
</blockquote>
After Charles died King James paid off Nell's mortgage on Bestwood lodge and gave her an annual pension. Although Bestwood had farmland and coal and could provide a healthy income, we all know it's Grim Up North. The Beauclerks lived in their other estates and Bestwood wasn't the family home until the 10th Duke of St Albans - Nell's great great great great great great great great grandson - decided to move in.<br />
<br />
It was the 12th Duke who sold up in 1934. Much of the land was bought by the local council, who used for new housing. The 14th Duke sits in the House of Lords and is president of <a href="http://www.royalstuartsociety.com/" target="_blank">the Royal Stuart Society</a>. For just £22 a year you could join him<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;">
<li>to uphold rightful Monarchy and oppose republicanism.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
But remember: his family's money starts with a woman sold to a king and the miners and farmers of Bestwood.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-21282783987885361182013-10-16T18:35:00.002+01:002013-10-16T19:19:33.733+01:00Mary Potter - 1847 - 1913<h3>
Because not all interesting lives are lived by the wealthy</h3>
<div>
I've never even thought to wonder who Mary Potter was, though there's enough public services named after her in Nottingham. So here's someone not famous who lived a relatively small life and didn't have a stately home to live it in, but isn't entirely forgotten. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Mary grew up with four brothers in London, raised by her Mum after Dad ran away to Australia. That must have been an impoverished and difficult childhood. After breaking off her engagement aged 20, Mary became a Catholic nun. She attributed her religious vocation to the books her fiancé had given her. Apparently it was "Instructions for Christians with a timid conscience" that tipped the balance. Poor Godfrey.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
She comes to Nottingham determined to find some poor people and do some good works. In 1877, after a fight with the Bishop, Mary founds the Little Company of Mary Sisters. It's still around, and because this is modern times <a href="http://www.lcmsisters.org.uk/HeritageCentre.htm" target="_blank">these nuns have their own website</a>. The Little Company begins its work in Hyson Green, feeding the poor. Hyson Green poor in the late 19th century were particularly poor: it was a slum then and there have been repeated attempts to regenerate the neighbourhood. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The nuns start their work from a disused stocking factory. It seems they were the practical, get-on-with-it type. Known as the 'Blue Nuns' - because of their veil, not their choice of white wine - they did the things nuns do: prison visits, pre-natal, maternal, and domestic advice, nursing, prayer. It's said that Mary had two breast cancer surgeries on a kitchen table in Hyson Green without anaesthetic. Really?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But Mary and the Bishop continued to fight. In 1882 she goes to Rome to ask the Pope to take her side. (How's that for the ultimate "I'm telling Dad"?). The story that's told on official sites is that the Pope agreed with Mary but asked her to stay and continue her work in Italy. Maybe, but I wonder whether the nicer food and climate might have played a part? Also, we haven't heard the Bishop's side of this story. Maybe he booked her travel and asked the Pope to please keep her? By 1908 she establishes the first Italian school for nurse training. This means that Mary Potter's work in Nottingham spans just five years. She has a lot of legacy for a five year career here.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
By the time she died there were 16 Little Company of Mary Sisters around the world. In 1988 Pope John Paul II declares her Venerable. In 1997 her body was brought back from Rome to be buried in <a href="http://www.stbarnabascathedral.org.uk/" target="_blank">Nottingham's St Barnabus cathedral</a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.montfort.org.uk/Shared/M_Potter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.montfort.org.uk/Shared/M_Potter.jpg" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Where did I get this information from? I started from the excellent <a href="http://www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk/mary.html" target="_blank">Nottingham Women's History group</a>, and googled from there. Beware the Women's History site: while the political intent is worthy, there are some woeful typos which makes dates entirely unreliable. This <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/nottingham/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8503000/8503951.stm" target="_blank">BBC report</a> adds extra colour, but I'm not sure it's well sourced.</div>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-25736841479182735162013-10-16T17:32:00.000+01:002013-10-16T17:35:55.049+01:00Cassandra - Duchess of Chandos 1670 - 1735If I'm ever an international movie star I think I'm going to book into hotels as Cassandra, Duchess of Chandos. It's a superb name. There would be glamour, intrigue and just enough naughtiness. Cassandra, in my imagination, is not the kind of woman who would carry her own luggage.<br />
<br />
Cassandra was, though, an actual person, with an actual life some of which was lived in <a href="http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/article/22204/About-Us" target="_blank">Nottingham's Wollaton Hall</a>. What I think I love most about her is that she wrote down all the family's dirty little secrets which was a racy thing to be doing. She was also a geek: she learned to read medieval English so she could catalogue the family archive, and in her spare hours put Dad's wildlife trophies in good order.<br />
<br />
Born in 1670 Cassandra was the daughter of naturalist Francis Willughby and Emma. They named her after her Grandma, family names being very much A Thing in this family of many Francis-es. Dad dies when she's two, and Mum remarries four years later. Step-Dad, <a href="http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/child-josiah-1630-99" target="_blank">Sir Josiah Child</a>, is very rich and they all move to Essex where he plants trees, builds houses, and does the things rich men do. He's Governor of the East Indies company, founder of the Royal Africa company and owns a good chunk of Jamaica. There's blood on his money.<br />
<br />
In 1687 Cassandra's big brother Francis moves to Wollaton Hall and asks her to join him. She does, but he dies in 1688. Younger brother Thomas then moves in, and together the siblings set about restoring the hall which had massive fire damage and had been empty since 1643. Gardens are planted, walls are muralled, statuary is purchased. For inspiration they travel to see other great estates - I'm not clear if they took Thomas' wife along or left her home while they had fun.<br />
<br />
In 1713 she marries her cousin, James Brydges. Together they build Cannons House in Middlesex. With fountains! The house becomes so famous that in the 1720s a one way system of crowd control is introduced. You've read Pride and Prejudice: you know that the English have always liked a good nosy round a stately home.<br />
<br />
The Middleton Hall pamphlet says<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Cassandra was 43 and was marked by smallpox. It is evident that James did not marry his cousin for money or any obvious female charms but his sons needed a mother.</blockquote>
Could that pamphlet be any more annoying? Cassandra was well travelled, well read, 'well bred', wealthy, and had extensive experience of estate management and remodelling. Smart girl. I'd marry her. I will concede that wedding portrait isn't terribly flattering. Family wealth is hammered by the South Sea bubble in 1720. So let's hope she didn't marry him for his money?<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Chandos-family-by-kneller-1713.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Chandos-family-by-kneller-1713.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wedding portrait</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Cassandra dies in 1735, aged 65. She'd not been well for the last ten years, and was a big fan of a spa day and a nice lie down. She had no children, but had been step mum to two sons since they were small. Here's a connection I wasn't expecting. Was Jane Austen's mum - <a href="http://www.janeausten.co.uk/james-brydges-cassanda-austens-princely-uncle/" target="_blank">the Duke's great niece</a> - named after her?<br />
<br />
Where did I get my information from? T<a href="http://www.middleton-hall.org.uk/cass.pdf" target="_blank">he Middleton Hall website</a>, and <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/family/middleton/biographies/biographyofcassandrabrydges,neewilloughby,duchessofchandos(1670-1735).aspx" target="_blank">the University of Nottingham archive</a>. I've checked <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/" target="_blank">Project Gutenburg</a>: her books and travel diaries aren't there, yet. But I bet they're quite a read.<br />
<br />
<br />Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-69247476516894318592013-10-14T13:22:00.001+01:002013-10-14T13:33:25.392+01:00Sir Percival Willoughby ? - 1643Heir to Wollaton Hall and its first resident.<br />
<br />
If you ever need to impress a train buff with your mastery of railway trivia, Sir P is your man. In 1605 he built the first railway in Britain. Where? Strelley, Notts! <br />
<br />
Percival isn't a very interesting character until he inherits Wollaton Hall and its various estates. Born - um, in the past... - he marries his cousin's daughter Bridget in 1580. They sometimes live with his parents, sometimes with hers, for the next 15 years. Family records are incomplete, but their eldest son is born in 1588. They have ten children in total, with nine living to adulthood.<br />
<br />
In 1595 his mother in law Elizabeth dies, and a year later father in law Francis dies too. But the inheritance isn't smooth - there's no will, and there's a new baby on the way courtesy of Francis' second wife who was married and pregnant really quite quickly. Once the complications are resolved (baby dies, but it doesn't really matter because she was a girl) Percival has estates, and debts.<br />
<br />
In 1599 the family move into Wollaton Hall, which cost a fortune to build and has stood empty for 11 years. A few years later Percival becomes Sir Percival - Queen Elizabeth dies and King James I begins his reign with a few knightings.<br />
<br />
Like his father in law, Sir Percival was looking for investments to turn a profit. The railway was part of a coal mine - which wasn't a good investment. He also invested in the Newfoundland company - in an age of explorers and colonisation this must have seemed a good bet. Sending his third son - Thomas - to stake a claim Sir Percival hoped that there would be mining potential he could exploit. I'm fascinated that, when Thomas sailed home, he got a fatherly bollocking for failing to properly explore the new land. I don't really understand the legalities of Sir P's claim but it appears that it went slowly pearshaped over 20 years, and he lost money through the venture.<br />
<br />
He was imprisoned for debt in 1606 and 'outlawed for debt' in 1622, 1623 and 1624. He resolved the debt each time by selling land but that decreased his income and - ooops - it happened again.<br />
<br />
Bridget dies in 1629 after a 49 year marriage. So close to their Golden wedding anniversary! Sir P dies 14 years after that so he must have been in his 80s by then? There's a serious fire at Wollaton Hall in 1642. I can't find out if this is an accident, or a consequence of the Civil War. The interior is badly damaged and few repairs are made. Is Sir P unable to afford repairs? Or too old and infirm to make it happen? Either way, after his death in 1643 the house is left standing derelict until 1687.<br />
<br />
Where did I get this information? It's mostly based on <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/family/middleton/biographies/biographyofsirpercivalwilloughby(d1643).aspx" target="_blank">this University of Nottingham archive</a> and this <a href="http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/willoughby-sir-percival-1560-1643" target="_blank">online history of parliament</a>.Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-84662523858354062742013-10-14T12:35:00.001+01:002013-10-16T19:27:24.544+01:00Sir Francis Willoughby - 1546 - 1596<br />
A developing fascination with some local-ish history. But why don't people write facts in an engaging way? Here's my re-write <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/family/middleton/biographies/biographyofsirfranciswilloughby(1546-1596).aspx">of this</a> fascinating but dry site from the University of Nottingham. History is gossip.<br />
<br />
<br />
Son of Sir Henry Willoughby and Anne, Francis was born in 1546 at Woodlands in Dorset. In 1546 Henry VIII was in his final year as king. Times they are a changing, and the massive religious upheaval of the mid C16 is the background to Francis' childhood. <br />
<br />
Mum dies when Francis is two. Dad inherits two estates - Wollaton and Middleton - in 1549 but he dies that sumer while fighting in Kett's Rebellion. So little Francis is an orphan by age three. Francis lives with uncle George, while his big brother Thomas is raised by Henry Grey, the Duke of Suffolk. (I don't know where his big sister Margaret went to live. Apparently that wasn't an important enough detail to write down.) Anyway, the uncles get political and are part of the Lady Jane Grey plot - the Duke is executed in 1554 and uncle George serves time in the Tower of London. <br />
<br />
When Francis is 13 his big brother dies, and Francis becomes heir to the Wollaton estate. <br />
<br />
Aged 18 Francis' then guardian (Sir Francis Knollys) suggests marriage to his daughter - who doesn't have a name. Francis doesn't fancy that, and marries his neighbour Elizabeth instead. They have six daughters who live, and various sons who don't. I'd speculate that this heir problem doesn't help what's described as a 'stormy' marriage. Just how violent does the violence have to be for a wife to leave her husband in 1578? She comes back to him ten years later, and dies in 1595. He's 49 years old by then. <br />
<br />
Sir Francis - he's knighted in 1575 - is rich, rich, rich. He has extensive land and coal mines in a number of counties, and town houses in Nottingham, Coventry and elsewhere.<br />
<br />
In 1580, he decides to demonstrate his wealth by building a Grand Design on the only hill in Nottingham that rivals Nottingham's Castle rock. Like every episode of Grand Design you've ever seen, costs spiral and the borrowing begins. The new hall is completed in 1588 - the same year that Francis and Elizabeth reconcile. Coincidence? I don't know. But they don't move into the mansion. Meantime that most famous of Francis' - Drake - is battling the Spanish Armada and winning the favour of that most famous Elizabeth. Queen Liz never stayed with Sir Francis at Wollaton, though she probably did stay at Middleton Hall, his main residence in the 1570s.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/media/image/3/b/Wollaton_Hall_-_Front_View_from_Grounds_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/media/image/3/b/Wollaton_Hall_-_Front_View_from_Grounds_5.jpg" title="Wollaton Hall: the house that Sir Francis built" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wollaton Hall: a grand design</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Our Sir Francis is known as an early investor in agricultural and industrial innovation. His schemes included woad planting and ironworks. However, he's spent too much on the new hall, and the income from the coal pits is decreasing. England is at war, there are taxes to pay, and all those daughters need dowries. Sir Francis is in debt. This leads to tensions with the man who is named as Sir Francis' heir, and would like to inherit assets, not liabilities please.<br />
<br />
Soon after Elizabeth's death Sir Francis remarries. He still wants an heir. New wife Dorothy Tamworth is pregnant when, in 1596, aged 50, Sir Francis dies. It's suspected he's poisoned. (By who? Isn't that tantalising?). The disposal of the estate depended on whether Dorothy's child was a boy or a girl. She was a girl, and died.<br />
<br />
There was no will, and there were lawsuits. Eventually the estate - and its many debts - is inherited by Sir Francis' son-in-law (also his cousin) Percival Willoughby. So everything stays in the family in the end. <br />
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Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-85669700963804641712013-10-03T16:08:00.000+01:002013-10-03T16:08:37.204+01:00The worlds that merchants madeOur theme is the move from an inter connected world to an interdependent one. It's all about the market(s), dummy. Colonies mark a shift in models of trade - away from trading the surplus created by a community who is largely self sustaining, towards organising communities to specialise in the production of trade goods.<br />
<br />
"As the world becomes wealthier, it also becomes more unequal" says Prof. Again, I ask: where are the women in this analysis?<br />
<br />
Found the discussion of how our expectations around food are constructed very interesting. The idea of specific foods for breakfast / lunch / dinner is relatively new. The increased access to sugar made after dinner dessert a middle class essential. Food and meals shape families and societies.<br />
<br />
The stock exchange (developing in Amsterdam & London in late C17) is the commodification of companies. They become entities that are traded.<br />
<br />
In other news: these lectures would be so much easier to follow if there were a clearer timeline. When did this stuff all happen? Dunno. Colonies were establishing from 1500ish? But lecturer is talking a lot about the Wealth of Nations and that's 1770s. Also a lot about coffee shops which is late 1600s. So it's all very interesting, but it's a 350 year global span in a 45 minute lecture. Deep...Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-38526928682645655152013-09-30T13:01:00.001+01:002013-09-30T13:01:44.695+01:00Indian Ocean worldsEven judged against the very low standards of the kinds of men who make the history books, it turns out that Portuguese explorer Vasca De Gama was not a nice man. Not nice at all.<br />
<br />
Famously - well, I say 'famously', but this is the first I've heard of him - De Gama discovered a new shipping route from Europe to the Indian ocean, bypassing the Muslim controlled established routes across the Mediterranean or through Arabia. And, having found his way to the Indian Ocean, this unpleasant and incompetent man was thoroughly unpleasant and incompetent.<br />
<br />
On voyage 1, en route, De Gama reprovisioned by attacking unarmed merchant ships and stealing what he wanted. In 1498 he reached Calicut and offered insultingly trivial tribute to the king, whose court laughed at him. De Gama took offence (and took hostages). He went back in 1502 and massacred sailors in port, sending their ears, noses and hands to the king. Some ships were burned, with passengers and crew dying aboard. The Portuguese conquered coastal towns and imposed colonial rule.<br />
<br />
Bigger picture - if you ignore the piracy, the viciousness of attacks, the colonialism etc - the new trade routes undermined Venice's grip on the existing spice industry, especially bringing pepper to the masses. De Gama was nicely rewarded by the Portuguese monarchy. So, on balance, probably well worth the blood?Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-14807120512804370982013-09-28T18:02:00.000+01:002013-09-28T18:02:31.190+01:00Stross C 2005 Iron sunriseI am sated by Stross. As a greedy reader, that's a quite remarkable thing.<br />
<br />
A fun novel, with a satisfying ending and an epilogue that doesn't distract. Very little sci fi. Oodles of plot. Strong female characters. Worth the time.<br />
<br />
First line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Wednesday ran through the darkened corridors of the station, her heart pounding.</blockquote>
<br />
Last line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And they'd be there to help her when she said goodbye to home for the final time and turned her back on the iron sunrise.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-13165799600674309302013-09-25T12:01:00.003+01:002013-09-25T12:01:36.732+01:00Atlantic ocean worlds<br />
Theme from the prof was that colonialism is a negotiated process as much as it's an imposed one. The conquerors needed stability. They didn't want to just plunder the riches - they wanted an ongoing relationship with these rich lands. So they needed a system that would keep on giving. If colonies are a source of wealth (rather than a place of expansion) you have to work with the pre-existing societies and turn their social organisation into one which supports your purpose. They did this by deposing some leaders, imposing others, and largely leaving the lower levels of society alone. This led me to think about corporate takeovers: much the same thing, only the executions at the top usually come with a payoff.<br />
<br />
Another form of amalgamation addressed by Prof was the Baroque 'mixed marriage' between Europeans and native people or Africans. I think he means between white men and non-white women (not vice versa), but we're left to guess at the power differential and how far these are marriages as I'd want 'marriage' to be. Is this marriage and are these children simply an extension of the ownership principle? Lovely romantic image used in the lecture. I wonder how it felt to be that wife?<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>New facts: </b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>There was a ship building boom in the wake of 1492 - Europeans using 'brazilwood'. Ships became easier to build and longer lasting - a virtuous cycle making more exploration more possible. The wood was also used as textile dye - why the rich clothing of the Renaissance was red.</li>
<li>Access to american commodities shifted the global markets. What had been a European trade deficit with the east (we wanted their silks and spices; they weren't fussed about what we had to offer) moved to a trade surplus. </li>
<li>Early 1500s Spain had a vigorous internal debate about the ethics & legality of enslaving indigenous people. See Bartolome de las Casas who argued that Indians had souls! If Indians have souls then the conquerers need to fulfil god's purpose by bringing the gospel to them. </li>
<li>6.5m people move to the Americas. Most of them don't have a choice. I read <a href="http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/slavery-and-anti-slavery/resources/facts-about-slave-trade-and-slavery" target="_blank">this stark list</a> of slave trade facts. You should too. </li>
</ul>
<br />
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-1713191004055023752013-09-23T16:23:00.000+01:002013-09-23T16:23:04.300+01:00Clashing worlds<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Interesting. Prof encourages to dismiss our preconceptions of native americans as 'peace loving savages; waiting for the west to settle and civilise'. Um. Not a preconception. Something I am noticing is that this America lecturer - who obviously usually teaches a primarily American student body - has his own cultural assumptions that don't fit those of us coming from other places. Each lecture has referenced Christopher Columbus. A small historical character for me - I'm much more likely to hang eras on English monarchs. This, then, is the very beginning of the reign of Henry VIII. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This lecture, though, is all about the discovery of the 'new world' and the people who were already living there. So let's learn something about that then:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Columbus' ship log shows many navigational mistakes. He couldn't use the new technologies of sextants etc, and was rubbish at the maths needed for navigation by stars. But he must have been a confident talker, because Isabel & Ferdinand believed his promises - that if they funded his trip to the Orient then this would bring them the wealth to conquer (or liberate) Jerusalem. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">1521 Cortes conquers <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Tenochtitlan (Aztec city, Mexico). How? </span>Unintentional germ warware - Prof says 40% of the city of 200,000 people was dead before Cortes walked into the city, and encourages us to imagine the stench. But what I don't understand is why the conquistadores didn't themselves fall ill from the diseases that had developed in the 'world apart' of the Americas. Surely the Aztecs had their own germs to which the Spanish would have had no immunity?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Whether intentional or not, contact with the Europeans was devastating for the native American peoples: estimation that from 1500-1600 the native population declined from about 120m people to 20m people. Small pox, measles, typhus. Horrifying! (And people still choose to avoid vaccination???). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I had a hard time staying on topic listening to this lecture. Without the background knowledge of what happened when in the various connections between European sailors and various people in the Americas, I struggled. An overview and timeline would have really helped.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Side effect of listening to this lecture: I finally understand what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_(novel)" target="_blank">Pratchett's Eric</a> was all about...</span>Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-34200444903435471752013-09-20T15:28:00.000+01:002013-09-20T15:28:45.555+01:00Introduction to organisationsI've flirted with the idea of an MBA for a long time. Let's see if it's stimulating or dull.<br />
<br />
Are street gangs an organisation? The lecture starts by looking at what's in and out of the definition. Structures of people with "collaborative pursuit of specified goals"...<br />
<br />
It's interesting to think about this in relation to <a href="http://withthankstomrsward.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/peoples-and-plunderers.html" target="_blank">my other Coursera lecture</a> this week, on the growth of trade along the silk road. Were the caravanserai an organisation? I think yes, but one which dissolved when the shared goal was attained.<br />
<br />
Tentative conclusion: a bit dull. Prof speaks in bullet points and I'm not fascinated yet. I'll carry on but if I'm not getting stories within a week or two, I'm going elsewhere. I would have been so much happier if the school examples had all been related back to Hogwarts. In fact, management lessons from Hogwarts is a JK Rowling spin off that someone should write. Chapters could include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>professional boundaries - contrasting the behaviours of Dumbledore and Hagrid</li>
<li>recruit wisely, check references - Alestor Moody as a what not to do case study </li>
<li>performance matters - Professor Trelawny was coasting for the last 18 years, why was there no improvement plan?</li>
<li>reward your star performers - why it was right to give Hermione the time-turner</li>
<li> cast out your serpents - the usurper Umbridge</li>
<li>etc. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Actually - that was fun. Maybe I'll write the book myself?</div>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-68454171347107785022013-09-20T14:30:00.000+01:002013-09-20T14:30:39.259+01:00Warfare and motion<b>The Black Death</b> - well, a northern European perspective - is something we covered in school and keeps on appearing in the historic fiction I love. I strongly recommend Karen Maitland's medieval novel The Owl Killers, and the slightly later but still plague insightful <a href="http://withthankstomrsward.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/mailman-e-2007-witchs-trinity.html" target="_blank">The Witches Trinity</a>.<br />
<br />
But the bare facts continue to be shocking. Imagine a disease that kills millions. Without any understanding of the transmission routes, no treatments. Imagine the social chaos. The trade routes of shipping lines and the silk road were corridors for the communication of disease. What I didn't know is 'the Black Death' is a term used to describe many different viruses. Prof says that multiple plagues followed the trade routes. So that must have been scarier still: as previously known symptoms are no longer reliable predictors of a disease's progress.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>China - population drops from 120m to 80m. </li>
<li>Europe - 60% die</li>
</ul>
<div>
How does any society come back from a blow like that? Crops not planted, and then not harvested. The apprentice system in disarray meaning knowledge has died with the master of that knowledge. Children unparented. Power vacuums. Armies decimated. Abandoned by gods.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-77732324008963870502013-09-20T13:15:00.001+01:002013-09-20T13:15:38.784+01:00Peoples and plunderersThe cast of global history at the beginning of the last millennium. A big topic, covered in about 45 minutes, so no depth of anything and many more questions than answers.<br />
<br />
My biggest question: were there no women?<br />
<br />
This is lecture is - largely - focused on the ruling classes, the political and religious leaders, the money. Fascinating! But I'd also like an assessment of what women were doing, and what was being done-unto them. Prof says the world was largely equal in its basic living standards, by considering life expectancy and average height in different places. But is that true of men and women? Probably not. Almost certainly there were a few women traders on the silk road: what was it that made their trading possible, or not? We get hints of women left behind with the children while merchants and soldiers went on long and dangerous journeys. How did they live? Did widows have a different status? How did the different societies handle death in childbirth and the raising of children? If most people are living subsistence lives in rural communities are the women doing the same manual labour as the men? Where there is access to formal education are the omen excluded? In war, women are often raped or assimilated through forced marriage. What happened to them? In politics, women are the created links between families through marriage. There have always been exceptional women faith leaders and women warriors. What specific skills were women learning and how were these integrated into the new markets of trade goods? Where are the women???<br />
<br />
I was very interested in the story of how technology changed the world. The Chinese-invented compass, charts, and new ship design opened up the possibilities of leaving the shoreline and finding new markets. And by using ships it was possible to move heavier goods further. I suppose that's an obvious point, but one I'd never considered.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Interesting titbits. </b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Chinese population doubled from C8 - c12 to about 100m people. Hydraulic engineering allows the Chinese to create new rice paddies and sustain such a population increase. Mass deforestation loss of habitat. There used to be Chinese elephants!</li>
<li>the silk road stank. Though merchants were trading luxuries (preciosities), the road and the hubs featured piles of poo - thousands of camels, horses, elephants, people. As the caravans would often travel at night, to avoid the searing sun, they must have been squelching through the muck. Ick. </li>
<li>Genghis Khan - in 25 years of conquering he laid claim to a bigger empire than the Romans managed in 400 years. His empire was the size of Africa. He overturned the caliphate in Baghdad and the Song dynasty of China. He was stopped by the mountains of Afghanistan. </li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">1258 - the Grand Library of Baghdad was destroyed by Mongol invaders. The waters of the Tigris ran blue with ink and red with blood. Probably mostly red: the death toll of the siege is estimated from 200,000 - 1m people.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">There was a global professional market by 1300. Relocation of doctors from China., engineers from Germany. Specialists were travelling the same routes that trade goods took.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<b>Things I want to follow up or find out more about:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>is there a respectable feminist history of this period?</li>
</ul>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-74544027187557927372013-09-20T12:05:00.001+01:002013-09-20T12:05:34.120+01:00Would I like to attend a world class University? For free? Oh, go on then.I'm a bit of a late comer but having discovered <a href="https://www.coursera.org/" target="_blank">Coursera</a> I couldn't be more excited. It's been a year of un-stimulation and while I've enjoyed the downtime I think that adding some intellect wouldn't be a bad thing at all. So I'm signed up for a couple of courses this term, and if it's fun I think I'll do the same next term too.<br />
<br />
I wanted a place to keep course reflections and - after some thought - I decided Mrs Ward would approve so why not use this place. I'll tag Coursera and a course title to keep things tidy.Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-61264931790131400152013-09-18T17:14:00.002+01:002013-09-18T17:14:38.383+01:00PurgeI've been looking at my bookshelves and seeing clutter, not friends. Increasingly, I just don't want books to make their home in my home. They can live in the library, or in the cloud, and come visit when I'm open to the idea.<br />
<br />
So - today - a big box of books has gone to the local charity shop. I still have plenty of full bookshelves, but this felt like something I was ready to do.<br />
<br />
Now I'm eyeing up the cookery books. You're not safe...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-26926318320656888292013-08-22T10:59:00.000+01:002013-09-18T17:19:05.855+01:00Wakling C 2011 What I didShock news: the Daily Mail is not <i>always</i> wrong. There's a Mail quote on my paperback copy of this book which I found really off putting, but this book just goes to show that you shouldn't judge a book by the company it keeps on the cover.<br />
<br />
I loved this novel, sweetly narrated by a six year old who gets his long words mixed up, doesn't understand what's scaring the adults and talks in metaphor that they fail to notice. Much like the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, the reader has to work for the truth behind the narration, and I found this so much fun.<br />
<br />
On reflection I'm not sure what I feel about how the author creates plot tension towards the end. While reading I was gripped (confession: I fall into novels hard). Afterwards it felt like the actions of Dad weren't in keeping with what we knew about him. I'll say no more, because I'd hate to ruin the story for others.<br />
<br />
First line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This is the first bit and shall I tell you why? Okay I will. It is to make you read the rest.</blockquote>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048013148985208289.post-58276639874460238152013-08-20T15:50:00.000+01:002013-09-18T17:19:19.598+01:00North A 2011 America pacificaA dystopian novel where the dystopia is fully imagined and the plot has holes that need attention.<br />
<br />
A generation from now the new ice age has made America uninhabitable. We learn, through memories and story telling, how civil behaviour collapsed as cold and hunger became commonplace. Visionaries fled to a new island home, and slowly others joined them. We meet this new society some twenty years after it was founded, and it's not a great place to be poor. The teenage protagonist knows little about how things got to be as they are, and cares little about changing them. She's focused on the rent, dinner, staying safe.<br />
<br />
I found the descriptions of how a marginal society gets by to be compelling. There is filth and hunger which reflect every refugee camp and shanty town you've ever read about, and turned your eyes away from. And the privileged classes - mostly the Mayflower first boaters - hold their privilege by deception and firepower, which also reflects every ailing society you've ever read about and turned away from. The plot, which at first had me gripped when a main character goes missing, lost me for the final third of the book. The final chapter? Meh.<br />
<br />
I'd read another novel by this author though, and she seems to have set up a sequel.<br />
<br />
First line:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The trouble started when the woman with the shaking hands came to the apartment.</blockquote>
Avid Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708473359995561047noreply@blogger.com0