I try in November, because it's Armistice month, to read something connected to the two world wars. This year I seem to have subconsciously settled on WW2. I'm not sure why as I would have said my interests veer more towards WW1, but there you go, I'm nothing if not contrary.
So, first up for me was Murder While You Work by Susan Scarlett (which is a pseudonym for the author, Noel Streatfield.)
Next, Journey to Munich by Jacqueline Winspear, book 12 in the author's 'Maisie Dobbs' series. A warning: this review contains spoilers so if you're thinking of starting this series best not to read it.
The year is 1938. Back from Spain but still grieving for her husband, Maisie is staying with her best friend, Priscilla. She doesn't really know what to do with herself but starts searching for a flat in London. Then she's approached by the Secret Service. A Captain of Industry, Leon Donat, has been imprisoned by the Nazis in Germany for having some connection with an illegal newspaper. They've agreed to release him only to a member of his family, which is sly of them because they know his only daughter is in very poor health. Relying on the Nazis not knowing this, the Secret Service want Maisie to impersonate the daughter and go to collect Donat. It is of course an incredibly dangerous mission, made worse by the fact that Maisie will not fly so will need to bring her charge back by train. While in Germany, Maisie has also been asked to look for the daughter of a man she feels is responsible for the death of her husband, the daughter also culpable in her opinion. It seems this girl has become infatuated with Nazism and has abandoned her child to go and live in Nazi Germany. (Shades of Unity Mitford here.) It's an incredibly dangerous can of worms and Maisie knows she'll be lucky not to be discovered as an imposter and locked up herself. This was yet another excellent instalment of this series. I thought the last one, A Dangerous Place, was bit odd but this returns to the usual format, although spying in Germany is not normally what Maisie does. It worked for me though and there was real suspense and menace in the shape of the SS people she had to deal with and of course she has no idea who she can trust in a country that is now frighteningly unstable and extreme. With WW2 rapidly approaching in the series I'm rather eager to read the next one now.
I shall continue on with my WW2 reading so this will most likely be my next non-fiction read, A Spoonful of Sugar by Brenda Ashford, a tale of the experiences of a Norland Nanny during The War.
And The Festival of Rememberance on TV on Saturday night brought up the subject of the Battle of the Atlantic, convoys, U-boats, that kind of thing. Realising I knew very little about it I grabbed this for my Kindle.
I'll probably save it for 2024, when one of my personal challenges will be to read a few books throughout the year dealing with the two world wars.
I hope you're all keeping well and finding lots of good books to hibernate with.
22 comments:
I do like Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, Cath. I like how Maisie grows and changes as her life goes on, and I like the way Winspear weaves in the events of the time with Maisie's story. I haven't read the Streatfield, but it does interest me. I respect an author who shows what happened in history through the eyes of the people who live in the times. Thanks for these reading ideas!
Interesting choices, Cath. I am unfamiliar with Streatfield, so had to look up a brief bio of hers, and was surprised to see that she was primarily a children's book author in her day. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I was surprised that she was female, too. Not sure exactly what they says about me. :-)
The only Jacqueline Winspear novel I've read is still The White Lady and that wasn't accomplished until this September. I still want to sample the Maisie Dobbs novel but never seem to find the time. A Spoonful of Sugar could be a real find; I'll look forward to your thoughts on that one.
I didn't know Noel Streatfeild had written any other books under a pseudonym! That mystery does sound like a fun one. I read and loved her book Ballet Shoes as a child. And I've read the first Maisie Dobbs mystery and liked it, but not enough to keep going with the series... too many other books I wanted to read more. :D
Margot: Yes, the Maisie in book 12 is very different from the Maisie in the first few books, she has grown fantastically. Somehow Winspear makes me think of issues to do with war and its aftermath that I would not have thought of on my own.
I liked the Streatfield a lot, and the war on the home front aspect was handled very well.
Sam: Yes, Streatfield was a children's author from the 1930s throught to the 1980s. It's not terrible that you thought she was a man as Noel is one of those uni-sex names. I knew she was a woman because of the ballet school books, not many men write that sort of thing.
It's so hard to read everything, time-wise etc. I will report back on A Spoonful of Sugar, I'm hoping it will be very interesting.
Lark: I think you would like Streatfield's one and only mystery story. It's such a shame it's the only one. I had the same reaction as you to the first Maisie Dobbs book. But I kept seeing reviews from people whose opinion I repsected so gave them another go and have not looked back. I now think JW is one of the best mystery writers around.
Yesterday I was trying to pick out a Susan Scarlett book for my sister and ordered Babbacombe's - now I wish I had waited one more day! However, I can always get this one for myself, it sounds fun.
Noel Streatfeild (and other Noels, I think) were all born at Christmas! Her style is so distinctive and almost cozy that I am sure I would recognize it, no matter the pseudonym, but I have also read and reread her books for a very long time.
Jacqueline Winspear is someone I have been meaning to read. I would start with the first Masie Dobbs book which is set as I understand during World War I. That was such a turning point for the world. Before the war it was still the tail end of the 19th century but after the war the modern age had arrived with all its problems.
Murder While You Work by Susan Scarlett sounds very good, I will look for a copy. I have never read anything by Noel Streatfield, although I have heard of her children's books. And I thought the author was male also until recently.
I must admit that I do usually check out a few reviews of a book before I begin reading, but like yourself, I seldom let bad or indifferent ratings put me off reading it for myself. Unless a book is totally unreadable, I can generally find something positive to take away from the experience - not all books have to be blockbuster hits for me to enjoy them! :)
FF seems to mark all of the authors books for adults with (as by Susan Scarlett), although I am not sure about the romance selection, which might be a bit too saccharine for me! I'll take a closer look later, but 'Murder While You Work' is heading for my wish list.
I have to admit that I have never read any of the Winspear books, as the Maisie Dobbs series is just too far entrenched for me to break into. However, I see that she has also written a couple of stand alone novels which look quite interesting, so I may take a look at those.
My reading is painfully slow right now and my reviews are getting way behind. Like yourself, we do have quite a bit going on at home though, so that's my excuse, although you do still manage to put me to shame.
Hope all is okay with you :)
Thank you for that info on the Susan Scarlett book as I'd assumed all her books were lightish romances. I shall add this one to my wish list.
New Maisie Dobbs due next year - Hooray!
Constance: Sorry you saw this a day late but it's well worth buying for yourself. I didn't read her as a child as I didn't consider myself to be a ballet type of girl. I was more into adventure stories, Narnia, Enid Blyton and so on. Now I think that's a bit of a shame that I didn't at least try one of Streatfield's books.
Kathy: The first Maisie Dobbs book is set slightly before the first world war I think, because she's old enough when it breaks out to be a serving nurse. The majority of the subsequent books are after that war and deal very well with the ways in which the population was affected for years to come. The books have made me think about issues I had not even considered and, although I was not smitten with book 1, I'm glad I went back and picked the series up again.
Tracy: Murder While You Work was not really like a lot of crime fiction because you sort of knew that one person was Up To No Good, and the interesting part was slowly discovering what she'd actually done and why. It was excellent.
Although I never read Noel Streatfield as a child (I was not a ballet girl) I always knew she was female because back in those days men did not write books for girls about ballet dancing. That said, I do think that in the UK, Noel is more of a boys' name, like Robin and Jamie, but since I've had more of a connection with friends in the US I've realised that over there that's not so... all three of those of those are strongly for either sex. Very interesting!
Yvonne: It's really easy to let bad reviews on Goodreads or Amazon affect your decision to buy or read a book but I've managed to force myself away from that because we all like different things and a two star review does not mean I won't like it. Yes indeed... I don't need a constant diet of blockbuster reads either, it would be exhausting!
I don't know whether NS/SS's romantic output was too saccharine or not to be honest. Judging by the dose of reality in this murder mystery and how down to earth the heroine was, I suspect not and will definitely try one at some stage, they're a reasonable price to buy.
I hope things will soon quieten down for you. It's awful when it's none-stop go, go, go. Exhausting. My youngest daughter has now had her spinal surgery and is recovering well but it's a slow process. We're doing all we can to help, mostly in the cooking of meals dept. and ferrying her back and forth to hospital for check-ups.
Sue: The author has written a lot of books for children and light romances and this is her only murder mystery. Such a shame but, based on the excellent writing in this book, I shall definitely try one or two of the more romantic books.
I want to catch up on the rest of the MD books fairly soon if I can, they've all been 'so' good.The only trouble is, running out of Maisie books to read might not be fun!
Interesting how different readers will come away with such a variety of reactions to the same book. Murder While You Work now has me curious. Happy thanksgiving coming up.
Harvee: It certainly is interesting that people's reaction to any given book can be so varied. I try not to let very negative reviews put me off but occasionally it happens.
I'm English and don't celebrate Thanksgiving but I hope yours is wonderful. :-)
Susan Scarlett and Jacqueline Winspear are two authors who are on my list. I'm actually going to read Murder While You Work next month for Dean Street December. The cover is gorgeous too!
Fanda: I think Murder While you Work would be perfect for Dean Street December. I love their books and might do that as well, I have quite a lot of their books on my Kindle.
I definitely tend to read more books about WWII than WWI. I think there are just more of the former, but I'm just as interested in WWI. I need to look for more books about it.
Susan:I'm the other way around, I tend to read more about WW1, or around that time period.
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