The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

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The famous scholar Ji Yun, who was obsessed with foxes, said: Humans and things are different species, and foxes lie between humans and things; darkness and light take different paths, and foxes lie in between darkness and light.

Like Yangsze Choo’s previous two novels, The Ghost Bride and The Night Tiger, The Fox Wife is a fascinating blend of history, fantasy and folklore. It takes as its premise the idea that fox spirits, who play a large role in Chinese and Japanese mythology, really exist and can take on the appearance of human beings.

Beginning in Manchuria in the winter of 1908, one thread of the novel follows Bao, an elderly private detective who has been called in to investigate the death of a young woman. The woman’s body was found frozen in the doorway of a restaurant and people are already starting to whisper that she was lured to her death by foxes. Ever since he visited a shrine to a fox god as a child, Bao has been blessed, or maybe cursed, with the ability to detect truth from lies. Now, he hopes he can use that gift to find out what happened to the woman found dead in the cold.

In chapters that alternate with Bao’s, we meet Snow, or Ah San, a white fox spirit who is searching for the man she blames for the death of her daughter two years earlier. Snow has taken the form of a human woman and joined the household of a Chinese medicine seller. In her position as maid, she is able to accompany the family on a trip to Japan where she hopes for an opportunity to take her revenge.

At first, the two threads of the novel are very separate; Bao’s story is written in the third person and focuses on his investigations, with some flashbacks to his childhood; Snow’s narrative is in first person, giving it a more intimate feel. Eventually, their paths begin to converge, producing some interesting plot twists and revelations. We also find that there’s not just one fox in this story, but who are the others and what is their relationship with Snow? It takes a long time for everything to unfold and for a while in the middle of the book I thought it was starting to drag, but the pace does pick up again towards the end.

My knowledge of Chinese folklore is sadly very limited, so I enjoyed learning more about the significance of fox spirits, their characteristics and powers, and some of the myths and folktales that have been told about them. With the novel being set partly in Japan as well as in China, we also see how similar myths and legends about foxes cross over into Japanese culture. It’s all very fascinating, and whenever my attention was starting to wane due to the slow, meandering plot, there would be another passage about foxes that would grab my interest again.

I had mixed feelings about The Fox Wife, then, but I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to learn something new! It’s definitely worth considering this one – and Yangsze Choo’s others – if you have any interest in Chinese myth.

Thanks to Quercus Books for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Book 6/50 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024

A Lady to Treasure by Marianne Ratcliffe – #ReadIndies

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I enjoyed Marianne Ratcliffe’s previous book, The Secret of Matterdale Hall, a Victorian Gothic novel set at a Yorkshire boarding school, so I was happy to try her new Regency romance, A Lady to Treasure. I had some doubts as to whether I would like this one as much, as Gothic novels are usually more to my taste than romances, but it actually turned out to be my favourite of the two. Both books are published by Bellows Press.

Louisa Silverton is the daughter of a rich American businessman. With the onset of the 1812 War, the Silvertons are beginning to experience financial uncertainties and Louisa is sent to stay with family in England, in the hope that she can find a wealthy husband there. Arriving at Athelton Hall in Northamptonshire, she quickly settles in, forming a friendship with her cousin, Eleanor, and getting to know the neighbouring families.

From her father, Louisa has gained a knowledge of accounting – ‘her first toy was an abacus and her earliest reading matter business receipts, from which she learnt to add and subtract’ – and she is able to use her skills to assist Sarah Davenport, who lives at nearby Kenilborough Hall. The Kenilborough estate is falling into debt due to the mismanagement of Sarah’s father, Lord Kenilborough, and the gambling habits of her stepbrother, and it has been left to Sarah to try to salvage the situation. As Louisa spends more time with Sarah, advising her on how to increase the profitability of the estate and deal with unscrupulous business associates, the two slowly become aware that what they feel for each other is more than just friendship.

The romance element of the book is more subtle and understated than I expected. Louisa and Sarah don’t immediately recognise their feelings as romantic love and it takes them a long time to start to act on it, particularly as they have other matters to deal with, such as Sarah attempting to save Kenilborough and Louisa trying to keep her father happy by looking for a rich husband. I liked both of them, particularly the independent, outspoken Sarah (a character very like the historical Anne Lister, or ‘Gentleman Jack’). Despite Sarah being an unconventional character, I still believed in her, and in Louisa, as realistic 19th century women; nothing in the book felt anachronistic or unconvincing.

As well as the two main characters, there’s also a strong supporting cast – I found Louisa’s cousin, Eleanor, an interesting character as she has curvature of the spine and therefore doesn’t conform to Regency society’s idea of how a woman should look. I wanted Eleanor to find happiness as much as I wanted Louisa and Sarah to do the same!

I knew after reading Matterdale Hall that I liked Marianne Ratcliffe’s writing style. Writing that feels too modern can pull me out of historical fiction and break the spell, but that’s not the case here – the language is carefully chosen to suit the time period and add to the overall sense of authenticity. I hope for more books from this author in the future, having enjoyed these two so much.

Thanks to the author for providing a copy of this book for review.

Bellows Press is a small independent publisher that works with “unagented, unorthodox writers of fiction, particularly queer writers, writers of colour and writers from marginalised genders.”

The Bone Hunters by Joanne Burn

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The cliffs and beaches of Lyme Regis on the south coast of England are famous for their fossils, particularly the remains of dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles, some of which were discovered in the 19th century by the fossil collector and scientist, Mary Anning. In her new novel The Bone Hunters, Joanne Burn takes inspiration from Anning’s life and work to create the fictional story of another female fossil hunter, Ada Winters.

Ada is twenty-four years old when her story begins in 1824. Since her father’s death, she and her mother have been struggling to pay the rent and are at risk of losing their little cottage by the sea. Much to her mother’s frustration, Ada is reluctant to look for a job, instead spending her days wandering on the beach and insisting that the collection of bones and fossils she is acquiring will one day make their fortune. Ada receives a setback when her request to join the Geological Society of London is rejected, but her disappointment turns to excitement when she discovers what she believes to be the remains of a previously unidentified species.

When Ada meets another geologist, Dr Edwin Moyle, by the cliffs one day, she must decide whether to trust him with what she has found. Edwin’s support means she will be more likely to be taken seriously when she presents her discovery to the Society, but what if he tries to claim the skeleton for himself? Having come so close to achieving her dream, Ada is determined not to let anyone take it away from her!

The Bone Hunters is a beautifully written novel. I loved the descriptions of the landscape – the beach, the harbour, the cliffs of Black Ven with their ‘dark, forbidding crag face looming high above’ – and the town itself. The relationship between the people of Lyme and their natural environment is something that comes up again and again throughout the book: the dangers of landslides that can happen without warning; the severe flooding that can destroy homes and take lives. It’s one of those novels where the geographical setting takes on as much importance as the characters and the plot.

As I read, it was difficult not to make comparisons with Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier’s novel about Mary Anning, but I think I enjoyed this one more. Inventing a character based on Anning rather than writing about Anning herself allowed Joanne Burn to bring more drama into the story and to introduce other fictional characters and storylines. I particularly liked Josiah and Annie Fountain, an elderly couple who run a bookshop together and have taken Ada under their wing, and Isaac, a young man who has come to Lyme to collect local myths and legends. Ada herself frustrated me because of her single-mindedness and selfishness – I felt sorry for her mother who was making herself ill washing fleeces in a factory all day while Ada refused to go to work – but at the same time I could admire her ambition and determination as a woman trying to make a name for herself in a male-dominated field. As for Edwin, part of the story is written from his point of view which adds an extra angle of interest, but I won’t tell you whether he turns out to be hero or villain!

Joanne Burn is a new author for me. I haven’t read either of her previous novels, but I do now want to read The Hemlock Cure, based on the real life story of the village of Eyam during the Great Plague.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Book 5/50 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024

The Undetective by Bruce Graeme – #ReadIndies

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It’s good to see so many forgotten Golden Age crime authors being brought back into print by various publishers. Bruce Graeme (Graham Montague Jeffries) is another I had never heard of until my eye was caught by the bright and colourful cover of this recent reissue of The Undetective. Graeme appears to have been very prolific, particularly during the 1930s and 40s, but this is a later novel from 1962. It’s a real gem and I highly recommend it to classic crime fans! Along with several of Graeme’s others, it’s published by Moonstone Press, which makes it a perfect choice for Karen and Lizzy’s #ReadIndies month.

Our narrator, Iain Carter, has abandoned a career in law to become a crime writer, but is finding it less profitable than he expected. Luckily, his brother-in-law, Edward, happens to be a police detective who is often indiscreet when discussing his work with his family, and Iain decides to use Edward’s inside knowledge as the basis for a new series of books. He creates a superintendent character based on Edward’s boss, whom he portrays as a bumbling idiot incapable of solving any crimes – more of an ‘undetective’ than a detective!

In order to avoid getting Edward into trouble, Iain publishes under a pseudonym – John Ky. Lowell – and goes to great lengths to ensure that nobody can ever trace Lowell back to him. The new series proves to be a huge success and everything is going well for Iain…until a man is found murdered and it emerges that the main suspect is John Ky. Lowell! Can Iain divert suspicion away from his alter ego without making himself a target?

I found this an entertaining read from beginning to end. As an author himself and a founding member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Graeme pokes fun at the publishing industry and his fellow CWA members, namedropping people like John Creasey, Christianna Brand and Julian Symons (who writes a bad review of one of Iain Carter’s books). He also offers some interesting insights into the world of publishing, the royalties an author could expect in 1962, and the reasons for writing under a pseudonym. The schemes Carter comes up with for trying to hide Lowell’s true identity are ingenious!

Although a murder does take place, this is not really a conventional murder mystery, and it’s not a police procedural either as we only hear about the police investigations and theories from Iain’s perspective, due to his friendship with Edward. Iain is not really interested in trying to solve the mystery – he just wants to make sure that neither he nor the non-existent Lowell can be connected with it. With the help of his wife, Susan, he begins planting false clues and red herrings to try to lead the police in the wrong direction and part of the fun is in wondering how long this can go on before he eventually makes a mistake and gets caught out!

I enjoyed this book so much I’m definitely planning to read more by Bruce Graeme, as well as maybe trying some of the other authors available from the same publisher.

Moonstone Press is a member of the Independent Publishers Guild and focuses on “detective, crime and humorous fiction published before 1965”.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Quick Reads

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This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is “Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time is Short”. I am listing below a selection of ten books with fewer than 200 pages – perfect if you don’t have much time to read.

1. Every Eye by Isobel English – A beautifully written novella published by Persephone in which a woman on her honeymoon in Ibiza looks back on her life. (144 pages)

2. Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu – This early example of the vampire novel was first published in 1872 and is thought to have influenced Bram Stoker’s Dracula. (160 pages)

3. The Man from London by Georges Simenon – One of many standalone novellas by Simenon, this psychological thriller from 1937 is available in an English translation by Howard Curtis. (160 pages)

4. Water by John Boyne – The first in a new quartet of books based on the four elements. I’m looking forward to reading the second one, Earth, soon. (161 pages)

5. The Beacon by Susan Hill – An atmospheric and unsettling story about a family living in a lonely farmhouse in the north of England. (162 pages)

6. Mr Harrison’s Confessions by Elizabeth Gaskell – This 1851 novella about a young doctor working in a small, rural community is a prequel to Gaskell’s better known book, Cranford. (113 pages)

7. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot – I think this science fiction/horror story will surprise a lot of people as it’s not typical of Eliot at all! My edition also includes her essay, Silly Novels by Lady Novelists. (110 pages)

8. Chocky by John Wyndham – This short book about a boy with an imaginary friend is one of my favourites so far by Wyndham! (164 pages)

9. The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson – A moving little book in which a man with only a month to live sets out on a tour of the world, visiting each place on his list in alphabetical order. (128 pages)

10. The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins – I love Collins and enjoyed this novella based on the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition to the Arctic in search of the North West Passage. (112 pages)

~

Have you read any of these? Which other short books have you read and enjoyed?

Cuddy by Benjamin Myers

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Cuddy is a nickname given to St Cuthbert, the Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop, hermit and saint who lived during the 7th century. He is associated with the island of Lindisfarne (Holy Island), where he spent many years of his life, and with Durham Cathedral, where he is buried, and these are both places I have visited several times, which is what drew me to this novel by Benjamin Myers. The publisher’s description of it as “a bold and experimental retelling of the story of the hermit St. Cuthbert” made me reconsider, as I’ve discovered over the years that experimental books usually aren’t for me, but I decided to give it a chance anyway.

The first section of the book is set in 995, more than three hundred years after the death of St Cuthbert, and is told from the perspective of Ediva, a young woman who accompanies a group of monks as they transport Cuddy’s remains to his new resting place in Durham. We then move forward several centuries in time and join the masons who are repairing the cathedral stonework in 1346. The third section is a ghost story set in 1827 when an Oxford professor, Forbes Fawcett-Black, is invited to attend the opening of Cuthbert’s tomb. Finally, the last part of the book introduces us to Michael Cuthbert, a young man living in a village near Durham in 2019 who is offered a job as a labourer during restoration work at the cathedral.

Each of the four parts could work as a standalone story, but there are also several links between the four, some of which are easy to spot and some that are more obscure. There’s always an ‘Ediva’-type character – one who fills the role of cook or healer, who sees visions and hears the voice of Cuddy – and there’s always a young man with owl-like eyes:

He has brilliant wide eyes that peer into your very
centre
Eyes that seem not to blink. Eyes that one day are
blue
and the next jade, then anthracite and once, red.

The quote above, describing the ‘Owl Boy’, is an example of the writing in the first section of the book, which takes the style of a narrative poem. I don’t think I could have read a whole book written like this, but could cope with it for a few chapters and I thought it was quite effective in creating a mystical, dreamlike atmosphere that suited the time period and the story being told. Myers also finds an appropriate voice and style for each of the other parts of the novel – for example, the 19th century ghost story, The Corpse in the Cathedral, is told through the diary entries of the Professor and is written in a very formal style which suits his character.

My favourite part of the book was actually the modern day story at the end. I loved Michael Cuthbert, who is struggling to care for his dying mother at home while trying to support them both by taking whatever work he can get, and I enjoyed watching him form a friendship with Evie, a kindhearted young woman who works in the cathedral restaurant. I found Michael and Evie’s story very moving and would have been happy to have read a whole book about them!

As for St Cuthbert himself, his own story is related to us through brief excerpts from a wide range of sources including books, essays and articles which are all acknowledged at the end of the book. It’s a lot to take in and digest and I think to really understand who Cuthbert was and why he is significant you would probably need to read some of those sources in full. However, this is a good introduction!

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Book 4/50 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024

Six Degrees of Separation: From The Loving Spirit to Endless Night

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It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate of Books are my Favourite and Best. The idea is that Kate chooses a book to use as a starting point and then we have to link it to six other books of our choice to form a chain. A book doesn’t have to be connected to all of the others on the list – only to the one next to it in the chain.

This month we are each starting with either the book with which we finished last month’s chain or the last book we read. My January chain finished with The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier, so I’m going to use that as my starting point. The novel was published in 1931 and was du Maurier’s first. Here’s what I said in my review:

The Loving Spirit is a family saga spanning four generations of the Coombe family. It begins in 1830 with the story of Janet Coombe, a passionate young woman who is forced to abandon her dreams of going to sea when she marries and settles down to start a family with her husband, a boat builder. We then move forward through the decades, ending one hundred years later in the 1930s. Along the way we meet Janet’s son, Joseph, her grandson, Christopher, and finally her great-granddaughter, Jennifer. The book is divided into four parts, one devoted to each of the main characters, but I won’t go into any plot details here as each story has its own set of dramas and surprises which I’ll leave you to discover for yourself.

The Loving Spirit takes its title from an Emily Brontë poem, Self-Interrogation:

“Alas! The countless links are strong,
That bind us to our clay;
The loving spirit lingers long,
And would not pass away!”.

Another book with a title taken from a poem (in this case Rudyard Kipling’s A Smuggler’s Song) is Watch the Wall, My Darling by Jane Aiken Hodge (1), a Gothic suspense novel set during the Napoleonic Wars. I described it in my review as a tale of “smugglers, soldiers and spies, a crumbling abbey believed to be haunted, family secrets and an inheritance to be decided”.

The plot of Alex Preston’s Winchelsea (2) also features smuggling. Our heroine’s adoptive father is murdered by a gang of smugglers in the East Sussex town of Winchelsea and she and her brother set out to take revenge. The book is set in the 1740s and includes a subplot involving the Jacobites and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer (3) also takes place just after the Jacobite Rising of 1745. This was one of the first Heyer novels I read and although I’ve read better ones since, it still holds a special place in my heart. I loved the Georgian setting, the characters and the entertaining plot.

The idea of ‘masqueraders’ leads logically to The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas (4). This is the final volume in Dumas’ d’Artagnan series, which began with The Three Musketeers, and revolves around a plot involving a man imprisoned in the Bastille who bears a striking resemblance to the King of France. I always enjoy Dumas and this is one of the stronger novels in the series.

A book which shares a word in the title is The Iron King by Maurice Druon (5), the first book in Druon’s series Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings). The series tells the story of Philip IV of France and his descendants, a line of kings “cursed to the thirteenth generation” by the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, whom Philip sent to burn at the stake. I still have the last two books in the series to read – hopefully this year!

Another book which features a curse as part of the plot is Agatha Christie’s Endless Night (6). And the title of the book is also taken from a poem, bringing the chain full circle! The poem this time is William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence:

“Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight.
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.”

~

And that’s my chain for this month! My links have included: titles taken from poems, smugglers, Jacobites, masked men, the word ‘iron’ and curses.

In March we’ll be starting with Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.