Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Henry VIII

I have just spent my summer wallowing in the 16th Century – in the world of King Henry VIII and Oliver Cromwell. It all began with the mystery novel Dissolution by C.J. Sansom and then the second, Dark Fire and then the third, Sovereign. Then, since I had not read Wolf Hall, winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize, and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies. I read those books as well.

As with the first in the C.J. Sansom series I found delight in the time period and in the investigations of Matthew Shardlake. Dark Fire takes place in the summer of 1540, a summer of intense heat much like the weather we experienced here in Parry Sound. Sovereign moves us forward to 1541, Anne of Cleeves is gone and Catherine Howard is now the wife of Henry VIII, though of course her days are numbered as well. This time we learn of the dispute about the legitimate – or not – claim of the Tudors that they are in fact the true rulers of Great Britain. Again Shardlake is working for Lord Cromwell, a man he describes as one who “could see round corners”.

Lord Cromwell

Forgetting my half-read copy of Sovereign at home – and going to the cottage for a few days – I noticed I had a copy of Wolf Hall languishing beside the bed. I was hooked from the first page. I already loved reading about the time and place – and found I loved even more the voice of Cromwell. “Felled, dazed, silent he has fallen”. The he is Cromwell and it is he who tells the story, is sometimes described by others, and is always at the centre of the novel. There is no doubt that Thomas Cromwell was a very clever man – a man who survived changes in favour that left others without their heads – he always looked at the forks in the road and chose the branch that lead to survival (only, of course, until it does not!).

Wolf Hall describes the rise of Cromwell, from the lower classes to a much trusted advisor and even friend to the King of England. Bring Up the Bodies continues the story of Cromwell as he secures his role as Henry VIIIs “fixer”. When Henry wants it sorted he turns to Cromwell. “Henry looks irritated. He should not have to manage this. Cromwell is supposed to manage it for him.” And, as long as Cromwell can manage things for Henry all is well. Like all powerful men Henry VIII has someone else to look after the bothersome business he does not want to know about.

Hilary Mantel has been accused by many of making fast and loose with the facts of the life of Thomas Cromwell. I found that though most authors do portray Cromwell as a brutal, bullying man, Hilary Mantel paints a more sympathetic portrait of a more complicated man who does have some concern for others.

Bring Up the Bodies is the second in what will be a trilogy. The Mirror and the Light will complete the story, and is expected to be released in 2019. 

One for the Rock by Kevin Major



It seemed very odd this past spring to be in Newfoundland without a ‘Newfoundland’ book to read – and then just at the right moment a copy of One for the Rock by Kevin Major showed up in my mailbox.

One for the Rock is Kevin Major’s first mystery novel, though he is well known for his literary fiction and non-fiction. I hope he had fun writing this novel, I certainly had fun reading it.

The main character is Sebastian Synard, discarded husband, disgraced teacher, great Dad. His son, Nick, divides his time between the family home where his mother, Samantha, lives with her new man, Inspector Frederick Olsen, and Sebastian’s new home close by on Military Road.

Sebastian has recently started a one man company, On the Rocks(s), conducting tours of St. John’s and the surrounding area. He takes small groups of tourists on a walk up Signal Hill, a tour of Cape Spear and a walk along the East Coast trail. They tour the Quidi Vidi Brewery, they visit the Rooms, and take in a meal at Mallard Cottage and Raymonds, they pick up sandwiches at Rocket, along with stops at other recognizable St. John’s bars and restaurants. Sebastian shops at Belbin’s and has his coffee at Coffee Matters.

The week of his first tour of a new season Sebastian welcomes six tourists, men and women of various ages and stages of life, all keen to see Newfoundland, and icebergs and whales. They set off on their first excursion, a walk from Signal Hill to the Battery. All is well until one of the members of the group appears to be missing. Soon found, off the path, on the rocks below – he is dead.

Of course, as in most murder mystery novels, there is often a second murder – or an attempt - and the next in this one is the mugging of one of the women on the tour. The next is the tour guide himself, Sebastian, who finds himself on the rocks below a cliff along the East Coast Trail. Badly injured, Sebastian is saved, taken to hospital and literally screwed back together.

I had to laugh as I read about Sebastian’s efforts to recover from his injuries. I was much less seriously injured with a broken ankle while reading this book, but just as miserable about my lack of mobility and forced idleness. Unable to continue to lead his tour, Sebastian calls in a friend to take his place, and decides he will try himself to find out the why, who and the what of what is going on. The heck with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary – or should I say the F***ing RNC. Newfoundlanders use the F words a lot, in person and in writing, it is just part of the vocabulary.

Sebastian’s other occupation – and passion – is fine whiskey, the peatier the better. He writes a blog ‘Distill my reading heart’ each a month, pairing a whiskey with a book. He has a collection of scotch in his ‘beverage cabinet’. I understood completely, my husband has the same. I think these guys would like each other.

Another character I came to love is Gaffer the dog. It is Nick who wants a dog and when Gaffer presents himself Sebastian cannot deny him. Gaffer immediately becomes a beloved member of the family. Another Newfoundland writer once talked to me about writing with his own small dog on his lap, juggling writing with dog walking and family life. Perhaps it is a Newfoundland thing along with the icebergs and whales.

All in all, One for the Rock is a darn good novel to read while you are visiting this beautiful place – or just wishing to.

FINDING LOVE IN TWO PERFECT LITTLE BOOKS

Machines Without Horses by Helen Humphreys is a most wonderful little book. Anyone who has read books by Helen Humphreys knows that her prose is pitch perfect, her sentences works of art, and that reading her writing is simply delicious.

So, here we have Machines Without Horses, a novel based upon the life of Megan Boyd. Megan became a famous salmon-fly dresser in Scotland, her work highly sought after but her personal life one that appeared to be solitary and self-contained. Helen Humphreys wondered about this woman – wondered enough to think on who she might have been under the tweeds – what she held in her heart of hearts. Helen felt a connection with Megan Boyd – and you will as well as when you read this perfect little book.

Machines Without Horses is both a novel and a tutorial on writing. The first half of the book describes how the author approached the project, taking on the job of writing a novel based on what is known about the real life of the subject. There is what is known – and there is what can be supposed, and what can be imagined to make this woman live on the page – and in the hearts of the readers. In doing so Helen Humphreys, who is quite a private person, opens up to the reader much of her own life as she explores her own response to the woman she is writing about. And, all of it so beautifully wrought.

Completely by chance Tin Man by Sarah Winman was the book I picked up immediately after reading Machines Without Horses. And, again, I found myself entranced by a story of loss and love. The novel begins in 1950 when Dora Judd won a painting in a raffle – a copy of a Vincent Van Gogh painting of Sunflowers. To the disgust of her husband she places it prominently on a wall in the back room near the dining table – the brightest, happiest thing in the house. It is the painting and all it represented to Dora that is remembered by her son, Ellis, and his friend, Michael – then, and for the rest of their lives. When they are young men Ellis and Michael travel together to the south of France, to see the landscape painted by Van Gogh. It is a trip that stays with them, as they age, when they are together, or apart.

Tin Man is a story about love, and about how completely unfair life can be. It is a story that explores what it is to be human, and that to love is to be open to the pain of losing those you love to circumstance or death.

Machines Without Horse and Tin Man will break your heart – and leave you feeling so wonderful all at the same time.  

Sympathy for the Devil by William Shaw

Sympathy for the Devil is the most recent book in William Shaw’s Breen & Tozer Investigation series. But, a word of warning – don’t start reading Sympathy for the Devil if you want to get anything else done in the next day or two.

If you have not read the earlier books in the Breen & Tozer series you could start with the first She’s Leaving Home – or if you don’t mind reading out of order I think this book stands on it’s own and reading the earlier ones after will just fill in the details for you.

Sympathy for the Devil, sub-titled Summer of Love, Summer of Death, begins with the death of Brian Jones. Many will know he was once a member of the Rolling Stones, and there was much speculation about the cause of his death by drowning in his own pool in 1969. There was, and are, all sorts of conspiracy theories about whether or not his death was accident or murder.

William Shaw is writing about a time when my generation was young – thin, and even if we didn’t know it, beautiful. These are the days of swinging London – discotheques and clubs, rock concerts and ‘free love’, Twiggy, Mary Quant setting the style we all imitated.

Mary Quant & the Rolling Stones

Looking for images of the time I did a little research and laughed to discover that I am truly an antique, as there is an exhibit opening at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on 6 April 2019, “Introducing Mary Quant”.  “Inventive, opinionated and commercially minded, Mary Quant was the most iconic fashion designer of the 1960s. A design and retail pioneer, she popularised super-high hemlines and other irreverent looks that were critical to the development of the 'Swinging Sixties' scene. Our fashion collections include examples of her famous designs from across the 1960s and 1970s.”

People my age remember that time – if we haven’t forgotten it – but William Shaw was not yet a teenager, and I wondered why he chose to write about this time and how he knew it so well. I sent him an email, to which he replied, “ I wasn’t a teenager but I was the youngest of four, so my oldest sister was born in 49 and the next in 51 which put them into the Helen Tozer bracket. It’s always an advantage having older sisters.” He well remembered the hairstyles and clothing his sisters wore and their activities as teenagers in the late 1960s. 

This was a time of great change in London, but Cathal ‘Paddy” Breen, eight years older than his girlfriend, Helen Tozer, is considered a square – though she is just the right age to be part of it and embraces her freedom.

The story begins with an introduction to Julie Teenager – a prostitute who poses as a spoiled teenager - attractive to a sort of man I cannot even imagine. When Julie is murdered, and Breen begins to investigate he enters a world with which he is completely unfamiliar. Julie was no ‘ordinary’ prostitute, nor were her clients. There is a tangled web of espionage – or not. Some of the good guys might be bad guys, and some of the bad ones maybe not so much. Woven into this storyline is the day to day life of Paddy and Helen, and their friends who are more or less part of the young swinging London scene – though two of the women are pregnant and close to giving birth. I was happy to see, in this novel, the deepening love between Paddy and Helen, even as she tries to preserve her own independence and identity. No one in 1969 wanted to end up a housewife like their own mother, and Helen had worked hard to establish a career in the police force.

William Shaw is now writing two series, The Breen & Tozer Investigation series, and another series featuring Detective Sergeant Alexandra Cupidi, that takes place in much our own time. I have just read the most recent in both series and do not hesitate to recommend them. I feel that William Shaw has hit his stride. He knows his characters well, he knows how they are likely to behave while still leaving room for surprises.

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler

The most recent novel by Anne Tyler, her 21st, Clock Dance opens in 1967 with a young Willa, age 11. We meet her father, Melvin, and her 6-year-old sister, Elaine. Willa’s mother, Alice, is not at home. She has left for a moment, or a night or a few days – or forever. Her family does not know. They do know that Alice is a difficult woman who resents her husband’s calm ways, and is harsh with her daughters. They however all love her; she is after all their wife and mother.

Then it is 1977 and Willa is in her second to last year at college and is flying home to visit her family, with boyfriend, Derek, in tow. Derek is from California, handsome and confident. He is about to graduate, and plans to make Willa his wife and return with her to California.

Then it is 1997 and Willa and Derek are living in California, married for many years and the parents of two sons, Ian and Sean. Derek makes a good living, Willa keeps house and looks after her husband and the boys.

I must say at this point I was wondering how committed I was to this novel. Anne Tyler is a decade older than I am, and I’ve been reading her books all of my adult life, some of them favourites, all of them worth reading. But these chapters, jumping forward a decade or two at a time were only somewhat interesting, and made me wonder about this new novel.

Until, Part II, 2017. We meet Willa again, married but with a second husband, Peter. The boys are grown and away from home, seldom in touch with their mother. Elaine rarely contacts her older sister. Willa’s life is that of a privileged woman putting in time.   

Then a phone call - from the neighbour of a young woman, Denise, who was until recently living with Willa’s son, Sean, in Baltimore. Denise has been shot in the leg, and her nine-year-old daughter needs someone to look after her while her mother is in the hospital. Though the child, Cheryl, is not Sean’s daughter Willa feels she must help, so she and her husband fly to Baltimore. Willa hopes to see Sean while she is there.

Neither of Willa’s sons are in permanent relationships, and neither have produced the grandchildren Willa yearns for. But, here is an unlikely chance to care for a child, even a child who at first seems so unattractive – and lives in a lower class neigbourhood so different to anyplace Willa has ever lived. But, she is needed. She and Peter settle into Denise’s guest room, and take on responsibility fro Cheryl. Cheryl though is a very competent little girl, far more capable in some ways than her live-and-let-live mother.

Willa, of course, remembers so clearly what her life was life at that age. Cheryl says to Willa, “I’m way more grown-up than I seem.” And, Willa knew exactly what she meant. She had felt that way during her own childhood; she’d felt like a “watchful, wary adult housed in a little girl’s body. And yet nowadays, paradoxically, it often seemed to her that from behind her adult face a child about eleven years old was still gazing out at the world.”  And there is the beauty of this novel. Anne Tyler sees into the core of each of her characters and shows us all who we are, and what we could be, or who we might have become – if only.

This time spent in Baltimore with Denise and Cheryl, the actions taken by Willa’s husband, Peter, and her son, Sean force Willa to observe her own life more closely. She remembers her childhood, her first marriage and thinks about where she is now, a woman past middle age but a woman who could still make a change – big or little – and spend the rest of her life differently, or not.