CONVERSATIONS FOR TWO by Jacqueline Markowitz

5 out of 5

Conversations for Two beautifully presents the fragmented memory of one woman after a life of loss and love. Inspired by the loss of Markowitz’s brother and the rediscovery of his personal writings years later, Markowitz uses these pieces of him to ask what about memory is tangible and what is imagined; how “real” are the written words that Markowitz can hold in her hand? What of the images they inspire? The use of metaphor and lyrical prose unearths the beauty in tragedy in a pure and gorgeous way.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jacqueline at Toronto’s 2016 Word on the Street festival, and interviewed her over the phone two days later. She is a wonderfully kind and interesting woman. I could have talked with her all day, but that would have been selfish of me. I wanted to specifically probe her for more details about the Beatles concert she attended when she was ten years old, but alas. She also started her own publishing company, The Jam Press, under which she published Conversations for Two. The company’s logo—a little strawberry—reminds me of the movie Across the Universe based on the Beatles’ music and the song “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Jacqueline Markowitz writes as if from a dream. I feel as if I’m seeing her thoughts from underwater in the most dazzling way. Some of my favourite descriptions of hers are about the woman’s mother. Here is an excerpt that has stayed with me for over a week now:

“I squeeze my eyes and see her. She is ethereal in the green water, scented with lavender. She would never see the beauty that I saw. One shoulder is lower than the other, and her hips are out of line. Her body is lopsided, the shape of a woman who carried children on one hip while dealing with the meat and potatoes of life on the other. There are the scar slashes where a breast used to be. Her body has been ransacked of its treasures. The outline of the pacemaker is sheltered within her beautiful collarbones, from which her skin is neatly folded and hung.

“I can see her. She had the skin of sonnets, creamy, even as life seeped in those feathery lines than fanned from the edges of her eyes, especially when she smiled. She would say it’s because she drank a cup of hot water with lemon every morning. And, I can see her face as she looked in her bedroom mirror at night, her little finger bent with arthritis smoothing cream across the contours of her face, and sometimes she could catch a glimpse of the woman who lived inside of her. Her eyes once brown, now laced with blue and green. Green like mine.”

-Jacqueline Markowitz, Conversations for Two

I honestly haven’t read anything so good in months, perhaps even a year. This is a book that stays with you in your heart as you live your life, quietly staying shadowed in the background. It’ll ease back out every now and then with a good quote or a simple word or two pertaining to my life’s goings-on. If I had to describe it simply, I would say it is a sigh on the wind. Quiet and peaceful, and now a part of me as the wind is part of the earth.

WE THAT ARE LEFT by Clare Clark

4 out of 5

This story about how the haunting nature of World War One permeated all generations after it and the everlasting scars that the war left behind follows Jessica Melville and Oscar Greenwood (née Grunewald) as they navigate the pseudo-purgatory that encased Europe immediately following 1918. Being the same age as the boys who fought, Jessica and Oscar are surrounded by the ghosts of war. Jessica finds solace in the London nightlife, but reminders of the dead eventually seep into even those dingy underground rooms. Oscar, always the intellect, feels it to be his duty to continue the work that the dead were robbed of before an intense love affair distracts him from his studies. Clark writes dialectic turns of phrase that are at times captivating, at others awkward, replicating actual speech well. In her surprising word choices that create a rich and melodious prose, Clark expresses a depth of understanding for the youth of this period who were left behind as the war raged on the continent that is rarely matched. Though the beginning did not metamorphose well into the ending—Oscar, in particular, seamlessly transformed from an incredibly frail, perhaps even obsessive, child into a largely faultless Prince Charming in his adulthood—the experience of reading We That Are Left was quite pleasant in its entirety. Fans of Downton Abbey should not hesitate to pick this up as a balm for their withdrawal, as Clark offers another look into the worlds of upper- and middling-class England during the war years that is perhaps more realistic and definitely juicier.

MRS. HOUDINI by Victoria Kelly

3 out of 5

In her debut novel, Victoria Kelly revives Harry Houdini’s incredible mystery. The reader is transported in time between the rise of Houdini’s career alongside his wife Bess and the years after his death in which she attempted to communicate with him in the spirit world. Two parts love story and one part detective fiction, Mrs. Houdini is an interesting rendition of the couple’s life both together and apart.

Kelly’s strength lies in her writing of the intense love between Harry and Bess, and it is a great loss that she failed to explore that thread more; the portions of the plot detailing Bess’s search for the spirit of her husband felt haphazardly pieced together, lacked spark, and were logically ambiguous. I carried on reading for the love story, although I experienced discomfort in reading Kelly’s fictional portrayal of Harry’s “secret.” It felt akin to slandering the dead and I am left feeling unsure as to why Kelly chose this route. That being said, I encourage readers to pick this up for Kelly’s mostly loving depiction of the couple and am interested to read Kelly’s next work.

THE BUREAU OF HOLIDAY AFFAIRS by Andi Marquette

4 out of 5

Marquette takes the reader on a journey through a modern interpretation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with a spunky, lesbian twist. Working towards being a CEO at Frost Enterprises, Robin, in her own words, has turned into a bit of an asshole in her climb up the corporate ladder. The Bureau of Holiday Affairs decides to pay her a visit, and Robin’s journeys into Christmas Past, Present, and Future—with a butch surfer girl, a drag queen, and none other than Mr. K. Rampus himself as guides for each—give her the chance to make things right. Her biggest opportunity presents itself in a meeting with her former lover Jill, and it is this very mature and well thought-out relationship that becomes central to the plot. With a badass and endearing narrative voice, and a surprising touch of relatability to the characters and storyline, the adventure that Marquette takes us on is exciting and full of holiday warmth. While the novel drags on a bit (I strongly believe that this should have been a novella), Marquette exudes writing savvy. The Bureau of Holiday Affairs will make you crave more of her work, and will perhaps leave a little less of the Scrooge in us all.

-Ember Book Reviews

[ARC provided by Netgalley and Book Enthusiast Promotions in exchange for an honest review.]

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OF THINGS GONE ASTRAY by Janina Matthewson

4 out of 5

“You are the reason I’m glad there are words.” -pg. 66-67

Mrs. Featherby loses the front wall of her house. Robert heads to work one morning to find that the building has gone, as if never there at all. Cassie has lost her lover and, determined to wait forever for her if she has to, begins to turn into a willow tree. These are just three of the whimsical cast of characters that Matthewson throws at you on your journey through Of Things Gone Astray. All of them have lost integral pieces of their lives and must decide whether or not they will carve new paths for themselves. The result is a lovely, engaging novel that redefines life, loss, and personhood.

—

Of Things Gone Astray is positively delightful. Matthewson’s writing is liltingly musical and fraught with mesmerizing tension throughout. Additionally, the book’s cover is captivating; the aesthetics alone were enough to reel me in.

On the other hand, I am not sure how I feel about the ending. A lot was left unresolved, to the point where it is not clear exactly what happened with certain characters. The whimsy is fantastic but in this instance it served as a weak point, where explanation was needed and not provided. In addition, we could have done without a select few characters, such as Marcus and Jake. Their storylines were blurry throughout the course of the novel and, specifically in Marcus’s case, were simply abandoned towards the end.

The true gems of the novel are Delia and Robert. They never interact, but Delia is a darling eccentricity, while Robert and his wife Mara are bright sparks of life that were greatly appreciated.

-Ember Book Reviews

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THE LITTLE STRANGER by Sarah Waters

3.5 out of 5

The Little Stranger follows county practitioner Dr. Faraday as he goes about his bachelor life in Warwickshire. One afternoon he is called out to see a patient at the grand Hundreds Hall, and thus begins a new and exhilarating chapter in his life. The Hall once housed his mother as a maid for the great Ayres family, who now continues to reside there, but in its dilapidated state, Hundreds is nearly unrecognizable. Still, with the aid of the somewhat eccentric Ayres family, it manages to exude its original charm.

As Dr. Faraday gets to know the Ayres family and spends more time at Hundreds Hall, he begins to realize that something is amiss. Roderick, the Ayres family heir, seems to be going slightly mad and claims that something is trying to drive him out of the house. He believes that only he can contain it. But when Roderick appears to nearly burn the house down, with him along with it, and is placed in a mental facility, the problems only continue. Dr. Faraday believes it is up to him to protect the Ayres family from whatever may be trying to harm them—especially if it is themselves.

—

*SPOILER ALERT*

The inside sleeve of The Little Stranger sets the reader up for a heart-stopping ghost story that it fails to deliver on. Not only was the opening of the novel agonizingly slow, with the story riddled with slow bits throughout, but it severely lacked in the fear factor. The nail in this coffin was that Dr. Faraday himself did not believe in ghosts. The best and most immersive parts of the story were the ones where the Ayres’ experiences are summarized by the doctor and they believe that Hundreds is haunted, so it makes that aspect of the novel much more interesting. In fact, the scene that positively gave me the creeps was with Mrs. Ayres up in the nursery alone with what she believes to be the ghost of her deceased daughter, and I loved it. It was scenes like this that I wish the book had more of, but unfortunately these summary scenes were only a very small portion of the book overall.

That being said, The Little Stranger was not without its merits. It had quite a gothic feeling to the imagery and overall tone of the story, which was quite intriguing. Visually, I would love to see this novel turned into a movie. I can easily picture a creepy little kid haunting Hundreds. What is it about dead children that is so frightening, I wonder?

Overall, The Little Stranger was not what I expected or wanted it to be. The cover synopsis of the book led me to expect a much scarier plot, but it let me down in that regard. However, I am sure that if someone picked this up without any expectations they would be quite pleased with it. I therefore do encourage people to read it and hope that other readers find it more enjoyable than I did.

-Ember Book Reviews

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THE NIGHT STRANGERS by Chris Bohjalian

4 out of 5

Chip is haunted by his past. A former airline pilot, he feels responsible for the thirty-nine lives lost when his plane hit some geese and the emergency landing on Lake Champlain was botched. His escape is to move to northern New Hampshire with his wife Emily and their twin daughters where an empty Victorian home awaits them.

In the basement is a door locked shut with thirty-nine carriage bolts. Emily knows it must be a coincidence, but still worries over the haunted look on her husband’s face. When she comes home to find Chip had broken the door down but the carriage bolts remain, and her daughters later find human bones in the basement’s dirt floor, Emily doesn’t know what to think, and wonders if the move was a mistake.

The townspeople are also acting strangely. They know about the house’s past, but Emily and Chip feels like something is being left in the dark. With all of the women being botanists, they are eager to take Emily under their wing, but when they turn an unnatural attention to their daughters, both Emily and Chip feel intensely protective and wonder what on earth these people could want with their twin girls.

—

Chris Bohjalian is an amazing writer. The narrative, which changes perspectives, is haunting, especially Chip’s perspective, which is written in the second-person. Second-person narration is hard to pull off but Bohjalian manages it with surprising success.

I found that the plot was really well thought-out and unique. There are two separate storylines of horror happening which keeps the plot interesting, though I do think an entire book could have been constructed out of one or the other. I had also hoped more would be done with the house; it was suggested that the house may be possessing the family at one point, but then this plotline tapered off without any real resolution.

The characters, on the other hand, were so intricately constructed. I loved them. They felt fully realized to me and like complete individuals.

The pacing was also excellent and kept me on my seat until the end (about the last fifth of the book). Here things slowed down to an almost unbearable degree and I found myself growing impatient to wrap things up. Unfortunately, the ending was disappointing. I expected something more dramatic and shocking, but it was severely lacking in that respect, and therefore did not necessitate the drawn-out conclusion.

This book is absolutely worth reading and I would recommend it in a heartbeat. It is a marker by which to hold up other novels by, as I have never encountered such fascinating changes of perspective. As it is coming up to Halloween, please consider The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian as your next read.

-Ember Book Reviews

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WILDFLOWER HILL by Kimberley Freeman

5 out of 5

A young woman named Beattie in pre-depression-era Scotland finds that the result of her passionate affair with Henry, a married man, is that she becomes pregnant and her entire life begins to fall apart. Unable to secure a divorce, she and her lover run away to Tasmania where they attempt to raise their daughter while pretending to be husband and wife. But soon their passionate affair becomes a bitter war as Henry gambles their way into deeper and deeper debt and succumbs to drinking. Beattie tries to do what is best for their daughter by running away with her, but soon Henry catches up with them. His wife has come into an inheritance and wants to take him back, and he wants Lucy—their daughter—with him. As a single mother working to let her daughter thrive, rumours begin to swirl as to Beattie’s morality and she finds herself battling more than just her ex-lover and his wife over her daughter’s love: an entire town has turned against her and everything that she holds dear.

Nearly eighty years later, Emma Blaxland-Hunter is not only the granddaughter of an Australian fashion tycoon but is a famous prima ballerina as well. That is, until she falls down the stairs after practise one evening and permanently wrecks her knee so that she will never be able to dance again. Abandoned by her boyfriend for another woman and now having an injury that dashes all of her dreams, Emma is forced to return to the one place she has been avoiding for so many years: home. While there, her grandmother’s lawyer informs her that she has been left with a huge property, Wildflower Hill, and it was her grandmother’s wish that Emma visit it. Reluctantly Emma goes, but while there she uncovers more than just empty rooms and boxes accumulating dust. She finds a secret past, pictures of a young woman—clearly her grandmother—with a child that Emma doesn’t recognize as having been her grandmother’s own. Yet, the story keeps unfolding, and after finding a cross in the garden clearly marking a man named Charlie’s grave, Emma realizes that there was more to her grandmother’s life than it may have seemed.

Family secrets and the unyielding power of love—that is what you will find in Kimberley Freeman’s breathtaking novel Wildflower Hill about two young women trying to make their ways in life throughout two very different eras, and what it means to be strong.

—

I can’t say it simply enough: this book was amazing. It’s been a while since I’ve found myself so attached to a story and a set of characters, but I truly craved this book anytime I was away from it. It made sleeping a nightmare, to be honest.

I usually dislike it when books flip back and forth between past and present storylines. I’m not sure why, as in some cases it does improve the depth of the plot and characters. That was definitely the case with Wildflower Hill. I loved that the story flipped back and forth between past and present, especially because Freeman seemed to understand that one thread was more interesting than the other and so devoted more time to that one. As I said, it improved the depth of the characters and story and was so, so interesting.

The writing was extremely elegant. For those who read my blog regularly, you may have noticed that a complaint I’ve had recently was that I’ve been having trouble finding adult books for young women my age (21), but the writing in this book was perfect for anyone of any age. I honestly enjoyed it so much, no matter who the character being examined was. Young or old, man or woman, I was able to relate to everybody. The writing style was so spot-on.

Something that surprised me with this book, and that told me I was totally in love with it, was that I wasn’t annoyed by the characters’ flaws. Sometimes I find that the characters’ flaws are so over-done that I find myself rolling my eyes at them. But I actually found myself getting defensive for the characters even when they were beating themselves up over their not-so-ideal traits. The characters were written in such a complete way that I forgave their flaws because they felt so human to me: nobody is perfect, and so I accepted these characters as not being so and felt for them in a way that I would a friend. There was honestly an incredible amount of intricacy to the characters; I can’t even get over it. They felt like fully formed people that I could easily walk up to on the street

I also liked the vein of truth that ran throughout this novel. The happy endings that you expect don’t always happen. You have to make your own instead, and I loved that message.

My only wish is that we’d had more: that more characters were explored, that the ending hadn’t ever come. Of course, this can’t be done in just one novel. I hope that Freeman writes more to do with this set of characters and storyline. I want to know what happened to Lucy in Scotland, what happened after the ending. I just can’t get enough!

One thing is for sure: I absolutely have a new favourite author in the adult fiction genre!

-Ember Book Reviews xxoo

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