The Love Child by Edith Olivier - first published 1927 - British Museum Library Women Writers Edition 2021 with a preface by Alison Bailey and an afterword by Simon Thomas

 

The Love Child by Edith Olivier - first published 1927 - British Museum Library Women Writers Edition 2021 with a preface by Alison Bailey and an afterword by Simon Thomas

“Part of a curated collection of forgotten works by early to mid-century women writers, the British Library Women Writers series highlights the best middlebrow fiction from the 1910s to the 1960s, offering escapism, popular appeal and plenty of period detail to amuse, surprise and inform.”  From The British Library

There are currently 15 works in the British Library Women Writers Series.  I am hoping to read through them in 2022. Most are fairly brief  and all include author bios and expert commentaries.  The Kindle Editions are under $4.00.

British Women Library Women Series Works I have so far read

Strange Journey by Maud Cairnes -1935

The Love Child by Edith Olivier - 1927

Agatha is an unmarried woman in her early thirties.  Her father died long ago and her mother has now passed.  She has been left financially secure with several servants and a decent home. She has no close relatives, no friends, never a romantic interest.  As Olivier  makes painfully clear, Agatha is totally lonely.  Her father left a good library but she does not read.  She seems to have no passion for anything.  Her fondest memory is of an imaginary playmate, Clarisa, she shared her childhood years with.

At first I felt sorry for Agatha but not overly fascinated by her circumstances.  Then something very strange happens.  I at first think Agatha is hallucinating, letting her imagation fill the void in her life.  From this point on I was throughly entralled by The Love Child as a marvelously developed stranger  by the page sequences of events develop. Clarisa appears first in a fashion only Agatha can see then she becomes visible to all as an 11 year old girl.  The mystery is who is she, where did she come from?  

I do not want to spoil other readers expereiences by revealing much at all of what happens as Clarisa gets older.  It is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

The Family servants play  an important part giving us a view of  country households.  A chapter with a Policeman explains the name of the novel when we see Agatha display real spirit.

Edith Olivier

Born: December 31, 1872, Wilton UK 

Died: May 10, 1948, Wilton, UK

There is a very well done bio here which goes into her belief in the supernatural.

In May I hope to read Tea is So Intoxicating by Mary Essex

Mel ulm

Kitchen Chinese-A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself by Ann Mah -2010 - 361 Pages

Kitchen Chinese-A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself by Ann Mah -2010 - 361 Pages 

Earlier this month I read a marvelous memoir, Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris by Ann Mah.  From it I emerged wishing so much I could take my wonderful wife to Paris but her passing has prevented that.  We did go to China together so In

decided I to read Ann Mah’s novel. Kitchen Chinese.  

It is told by Isabelle Lee, an ABC (American Born Chinese) focusing on her relocation to Beijing

 after getting fired from her job as a fact checker for a prestigious New York City magazine. “Kitchen Chinese” is what Isabelle  calls the very limited version of Chinese she speaks. Her older sister, Claire, a high powered glamorous corporate attorney is already there. Claire is divorced.  Both are childless, which deeply grieves their mother.  Claire and Isabelle have never been really close.  Claire graduated at the top of her class in Harvard Law School.  Isabelle studied journalism.

Through Claire’s contacts Isabelle gets a job as food and music writer for an expat Magazine.  Her Chinese is not great and people wonder why at first.  The job introduces her to the vast diversity of Chinese cuisine.  There are many delightful descriptions of meals.

There are romances.  Some illadvised and one with marvelous potential.  The sisters become closer.  They are in frequent Communication with their demanding mother, pushing for Chinese grandchildren.  I found the dramatic ending very gratifying.

I very much enjoyed Kitchen Chinese.  It is fast moving, the minor characters are fun and interesting.  It is for sure a Chinese Food Lovers book.

Ann Mah is an American food and travel writer and the bestselling author of The Lost Vintage and three other books. A frequent contributor to the New York Times’ Travel section, she lives in Paris and Washington, DC.”  

https://www.annmah.net/

I hope to read her 2018 novel, The Last Vintage, set in vineyards of Burgandy during World War Two, next month.

Mel Ulm

 

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang - A Memoir - 2021

 

Beautiful  Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang - 2021

A New York Times bestseller about an undocumented immigrant child, seven, from China who moved with her mother to join her father already in New York City.  In China her parents were professors but her father’s criticism of the government put him in danger.  

In NYC her parents are illegal immigrants, in constant fear of being deported back to China.  Her highly educated parents work in sweatshops, living in extreme poverty in a place they had believed was “Tbe Beautiful Country”, “Mei Guo” in Chinese.  Her parents fight constantly.  Qian is initially shunned in School as she speaks only Mandrian.  Gradually she begins to learn English, she finds a wonderful refuge in the Public Library.  She begins to take delight in America, from greasy pizza to furniture found on the street they can use.  She becomes her mother’s advisor.

Her wonderful mother becomes very ill.  She enters the hospital though she fears she will be turned over to Immigration.  Her father, perhaps with another woman now, withdraws deeply into him self advancing up to a job as a clerk for an Immigration attorney.  Qian ends up at Grade Seven in a School for gifted children.

The story ends in triumph.  I found this a deeply moving memoir.

Qian Julie Wang is a graduate of Yale Law School and Swarthmore College. Formerly a commercial litigator, she is now managing partner of Gottlieb & Wang LLP, a firm dedicated to advocating for education and civil rights. Her writing has appeared in major publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two rescue dogs, Salty and Peppers. From The Book.

Mel Ulm 

Strange Journey by Maude, Cairnes - First published in 1935 - This edition published in 2022 by The British Library - with a preface by Lucy Evans and an afterword by Simon Thomas

Information on The British Library Women Writers Series - From Stuck in a Book

Strange Journey by Maud Cairnes - 

First published in 1935 - This edition published in 2022 by The British Library - with a preface by Lucy Evans and an afterword by Simon Thomas 

March 28, 1893 to February 8, 1965

Maud Cairnes was born in 1893, the eldest child of Warner Hastings, 15th Earl of Huntingdon, and Maud, Countess of Huntingdon.  Her full name was Lady Maud Kathleen Cairnes Plantagenet Hastings, from which she took two names to publish her works of fiction, though she was known as Lady Kathleen.  

Polly Wilinkson, happily married to Tom,with two young children is what was then considered upper Middle Class with one servants.  She does have to manage her household, avoid making her helper mad while helping Tom advance in his office job.  One day she sees in front of her house an elegant woman in a Rolls Royce.  She wonders what kind of life she leads. Lady Elizabeth is a member of the landed gentry.

Here are Polly’s thoughts:

“Suddenly I felt a longing to change places with her, to get into that big, comfortable looking car, lean back in the soft cushions I felt sure that it contained, while the chauffeur made it glide away through the dusk to some pleasant house where there would be efficient servants and tea waiting, with a silver teapot, thin china, and perhaps hot scones, nice deep arm chairs to sit in, and magazines lying on the table.

The traffic moves, the Rolls passes, and Polly goes back into the house. A week or so later, a picture of a similar Rolls in a magazine brings back that daydream. But suddenly, Polly feels a moment of dizziness, after which her head clears and she looks down at her hands.”

Polly has changed places with Lady Elizabeth.  At first she things it must be a dream but when she returns to her House she finds for the last  few days she has been acting strange.  She realizes Lady Elizabeth has been in her place.  Over the next several months she is repeatedly transport to the Grand House of Lady Elizabeth.  She realizes all is not Right with Lady Elizabeth’s marriage to Major Forrester Gerald.She wonders if Elizabeth is Sleeping in bed with Tom while she has to ward Elixabeth’s husband out of her room.  When Polly first was in the Grand House she did not know which of the 22 rooms was hers.  She is turned off by a big hunting party though Elixabeth loved it. Polly cannot shot or ride well at all.

While back at Polly’s place Elizabeth regales the children with stories of knight, castles and dragons.  She attends a party for Tom’s boss, an event that would have intimidated Polly and pulls it off perfectly. To her Tom’s boss is way below her but she plays her role.

Polly and Elizabeth meet up to deal with what is happening to them.  I thought this made Strange Journey even more interesting.

There is much comic in the plot.  There is no hint of Life for those lower down in Society.  

This edition includes bio data on Maud Cairnes.

I throughly enjoyed Strange Journey.

Mel Ulm

 

White Mughals Love and Betrayal in 18th Century India by William Dalrymple (2002)

Website of William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple is probably the leading non-academic historian focusing on India.  His White Mughals Love and Betrayal in 18th Century India won the highly prestigious Wolfson Prize in 2003 (awarded by the Wolfson foundation for best history book by a British subject).  As I am very interested in the 18th Century in Asia I was  eager to read this book.

British men, soldiers, East Indian Company officers in the thousands were sent to help rule India in the 18th Century.  Very few English women went along, at most the wives of the very elite.  Naturally this lead to extensive fraternization between Indian Women and British men.  Dalrymple focuses on relationships between high society Muslim India Women, mostly from the largely Muslim Hyderabad area and Englishmen. (The rulers were descended from the Mughals, hence the name.) 

In several cases the men converted to Muslim, often required for a marriage, and became experts on Indian culture, often adapting the life style of their wives.  As depicted by Dalrymple, some of the matches were based in deep love, while other wealthy officers set up private harems.  By and large Hindu women were forbidden to marry Englishmen while Islam had no such provision.

Dalrymple goes into a lot of fascinating detail about social customs, trade, the British East India Company, marriage in the period, interfaith relationships, child rearing and much more.  I was fascinated to learn that Muslim law of the period allowed abortions up to the fourth month and to learn about how this was done.  

There are things I found lacking in this book.  It gives little account of the day to day lives of the English, what did they eat for example.  One thing annoyed me a good bit.  Every woman mentioned by Dalrymple is described as incredibly beautiful.  To me this suggests the women were commodities and that their value came from how close they approximated British standards of beauty.  Clearly the lighter skinned a woman was, the more beautiful the English considered her.  Buying into this without comment is not acceptable,  to me at least.  In 18th Century society it was second and third sons who went to India in search of fortunes.  

India in the 18th Century is an incredibly deep and wide area of study.  This book gets my endorsement for all into the history of Colonial India.

TGIS is a revised post from April 11, 2018

Mel u

“WARM BEERS AND SOGGY BURGERS” BY FARAH AHAMED - A Short Story - published February 22, 2022 in The Mechanic’s Institute Review

You May Read Today’s Story here

“WARM BEERS AND SOGGY BURGERS” BY FARAH AHAMED - A Short Story 

Gateway to Farah Ahamed on The Reading Life

I first began to follow the work of Farah Ahamed on  April 3, 2015.  “Warm Beers and Soggy Burgers”  is the ninth  of her short stories upon which I have posted. I reserve such coverage for writers whose talent and insight I greatly value.

Several of her stories are set in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital and deal with a wonderful character, Dr. Patel, of whom I have become very fond.

My main purpose here is to continue my records of reading the work of Farah Ahamed and to let interested readers know of the availability of this marvelous Short Story online. (There links to several of her other stories on The Reading Life.)

The story is narrated by an affluent married woman living in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Her husband, Inayat, has booked a family trip to Thailand for next week but neglected to tell her.  She is upset as she has a radio job interview set up 

for next week.  She is looking for work as a script editor.

As their relationship begins to decline, the husband is clueless as to what might be the issue we see her growing frustration:

“About time,’ he said, and turned his attention back to the television. I lifted my arm and aimed the plant at him, hoping its thin, straggly roots would land in the middle of his face. But he ducked and it landed on the rug. 

‘What the hell’s wrong with you?’ he said. 

‘Nothing.’ 

The next morning at breakfast I said to Inayat, ‘Could you pass me the sugar, please?’ From behind his newspaper, he handed me the butter dish. As usual, he hadn’t been listening. I took a teaspoonful of butter and stirred it in my tea. Oil globules floated to the surface.”

From here it get worse.  

The depiction of the marriage is really brilliant.  At my worst I could see a bit of the husband’s failure to understand the feelings of his wife.  He means well but…

Farah Ahamed’s short stories and essays have been published in Ploughshares, The Mechanics’ Institute Review, The Massachusetts’ Review amongst others. In 2021, Pan Macmillan will publish her non-fiction anthology on menstruation experiences in South Asia. A human rights lawyer with a Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, Farah is currently working on a short story collection and a novel set in Lahore. She also has a complete book of Dr Patel stories. You can read more of her work here: farahahamed.com.

I hope to follow her literary work for years to come and salute her human rights work.

Mel Ulm

 

Slaughterhouse- Five by Kurt Vonnegut - 1969 -A Novel - with a Forward by Kevin Powers 2019 in Observation of The 50th Anniversary of Publication

Slaughterhouse- Five by Kurt Vonnegut - 1969 -A Novel - with a Forward  by Kevin  Powers 2019 in Observation of The 50th Anniversary of Publication 

“Slaughterhouse-Five is wisdom literature. It is a book of awe and humbling clarity. Its lessons are so simple that by adulthood most of us have forgotten or taken them for granted only to be stunned upon being reacquainted with their fundamental gravity.”  Kevin Powers. - Author of Yellow Birds

I am very glad to have now read Slaughterhouse Five.  I think had I read it fifty years ago Billy Pilgrim, Kilgore Trout, the Tralfamadorian who captured Billy and bombing of Dresden would still be firmly planted in my memory.

Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a semi-autobiographic science fiction-i anti-war novel inspired by Vonnegut’s witnessing the bombing of Dresden when he was a prisoner  of War held by the Germans in a former slaughterhouse.  Billy Pilgrim, the central character was captured by the Tralfamadorians, from a planet 400 billion miles from Earth. Or maybe he hallucinated this after a serious head injury.  He believes he was kept in a zoo on this planet. “The Tralfamadorians later abduct a pornographic film star named Montana Wildhack, who had disappeared on Earth and was believed to have drowned in San Pedro Bay. They intend to have her mate with Billy. She and Billy fall in love and have a child together. Billy is instantaneously sent back to Earth in a time warp to re-live past or future moments of his life. The Tralfamadorians believe everything that has ever happened or happen exists simultaneously.  Billy travels back and forth to different parts of his life.” From The very well done Wikepedia article.

The description of bombing of Dresden is very powerful.  Dresden was not a military target. The allied bombing killed about 120,000.  There were  controversies at the time over the decision to bomb but they were out weighed by a desire to inflict damage on a vicious enemy.  The American POWs were made to dig for bodies.

This is a very American novel.  Maybe it is almost a work for younger readers in high School or College. I am glad i at Last read this novel, fun, thought provoking with cool character names.

“KURT VONNEGUT was a master of contemporary American literature. His black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America’s attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as “a true artist” (New York Times) with Cat’s Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene declared, “one of the best living American writers.” Mr. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007.” From The book

I read soon I hope his novel Bluebeard.

Mel Ulm

Slaughterhouse- Five by Kurt Vonnegut - 1969 -A Novel - with a Forward  by Kevin  Powers 2019 in Observation of The 50th Anniversary of Publication 

“Slaughterhouse-Five is wisdom literature. It is a book of awe and humbling clarity. Its lessons are so simple that by adulthood most of us have forgotten or taken them for granted only to be stunned upon being reacquainted with their fundamental gravity.”  Kevin Powers. - Author of Yellow Birds

I am very glad to have now read Slaughterhouse Five.  I think had I read it fifty years ago Billy Pilgrim, Kilgore Trout, the Tralfamadorian who captured Billy and bombing of Dresden would still be firmly planted in my memory.

Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a semi-autobiographic science fiction-i anti-war novel inspired by Vonnegut’s witnessing the bombing of Dresden when he was a prisoner  of War held by the Germans in a former slaughterhouse.  Billy Pilgrim, the central character was captured by the Tralfamadorians, from a planet 400 billion miles from Earth. Or maybe he hallucinated this after a serious head injury.  He believes he was kept in a zoo on this planet. “The Tralfamadorians later abduct a pornographic film star named Montana Wildhack, who had disappeared on Earth and was believed to have drowned in San Pedro Bay. They intend to have her mate with Billy. She and Billy fall in love and have a child together. Billy is instantaneously sent back to Earth in a time warp to re-live past or future moments of his life. The Tralfamadorians believe everything that has ever happened or happen exists simultaneously.  Billy travels back and forth to different parts of his life.” From The very well done Wikepedia article.

The description of bombing of Dresden is very powerful.  Dresden was not a military target. The allied bombing killed about 120,000.  There were  controversies at the time over the decision to bomb but they were out weighed by a desire to inflict damage on a vicious enemy.  The American POWs were made to dig for bodies.

This is a very American novel.  Maybe it is almost a work for younger readers in high School or College. I am glad i at Last read this novel, fun, thought provoking with cool character names.

“KURT VONNEGUT was a master of contemporary American literature. His black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America’s attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as “a true artist” (New York Times) with Cat’s Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene declared, “one of the best living American writers.” Mr. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007.” From The book

I  I hope his novel Bluebeard pretty soon.

Mel Ulm

 

Mastering the Art of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages

Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages 

A dream has come true for a very passionate foodie, Ann Mah and her American Diplomatic Corp husband Calvin, he has been given a three year assignment in Paris.  Sadly, soon after they arrive he is sent to Irag for a year. No families are allowed there.  Mah is initially crushed by her loneliness. She fears for Calvin’s safety.

Calvin encourages her to employ her passion for French  cooking by  travels through country.  She seeks out the Regional sprcialities of the regions she visits.  For each of The ten regions she provides a brief history, introduces local chefs.  She visits three Star Michelin restaurants and simple cafes known only to locals.  At the close of each chapter there is an elegant recipe of a famous French dish.  You Will leave this book hungry!

Mah shares her aclimation to living in Paris as an American of Chinese ancestory, slowly learning French and getting a job at The American Library.

She talks about Julia Child, another diplomatic wife in Love with Paris and French Food. Diplomats have no real fixed home.  

Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris is s very good book.  To me it brought on deep feelings of regret.  I had planned to travel to Paris in 2022 with my wife. She passed away on January 19.

I have a copy of Mah’s debut novel Kitchen Chinese and hope to read it soon.

“Ann Mah is an American food and travel writer and the bestselling author of The Lost Vintage and three other books. A frequent contributor to the New York Times’ Travel section, she lives in Paris and Washington, DC.”  

https://www.annmah.net/

Mel Ulm

 

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich - 2021 - 387 Pages - A Novel

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich - 2021 - 387 Pages - A Novel

Buried in Print on Louise Erdrich

Birchbark Books- owned by Louise Erdrich. 

Best Bio of Author I could find. On The Poetry Foundation 

Back in July of 2014 I read “Nero” by Louise Erdrich.  It won the O. Henry Award for best short story that year.  Seven years it took me to read another of her works, The  Night Watchman, the 2021 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction.

The Night Watchman is based on the author’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman while working to prevent Native Americans Chippewas from being dispossed from land they long lived on.  The Bureau of Indian Affairs, a Federal agency, was in charge of whether or not a linked group of Native Americans should be designated a tribe.  Losing that designation meant loss of reservations rights and government help.

As The Sentence begins, Tookie has just been sentenced to sixty years in prison for stealing a truck to take the body of the ex-lover of a close friend from the apartment where he died.  Unbenownst to Tookie, there were drugs hidden on the body.  Tookie, a Native American, knows that Native Americans often receive very harsh sentences.

While in prison books are her refuge, her salvation. Thanks to the tireless work of her Defense attorney gets her released after only a few years.  The time then is 2015, the place is Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Tookie finds a job in a Bookstore with a focus on Native Americans.  She loves her job and Marries a tribal policeman.  It turns out the store is haunted by Flora a deceased customer, visting daily just as she did when alive. Flora was a White woman who was obsessed with her imaginary Native American heritage.  

There are lots of wonderful references to books sold, to those read by Tookie, other employees and customers.

The Covid Pandemic begins, George Floyd is killed by the Police.  Tootie and her husband are sucked in a vortex of danger, fear of the unknown.  There are no vaccines yet, no one understands the virus, how to be safe.

There are lots of interesting characters.  There is even a list of works mentioned.  

I greatly enjoyed The Sentence.  As my Understanding The significance of the title imcressed I think, I saw a bit deeper into this marvelous book.

Mel Ulm

 

Kl: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps By Nikolaus Wachsmann - 2015 - 881 Pages

Kl: A History  of the Nazi Concentration  Camps

By Nikolaus Wachsmann - 2015 - 881 Pages

In March of 1933 an abandoned factory in Dachau surrounded by barbed wire held 233 prisoners. Wachsmann traces out in a very detailed  narrative the complex sequence of events leading up to the 22 majors camps and over 1000 satellite camps located in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe.  The camps were at heart of the Nazis program of terror and repression.  As war dragged on they became an important part of the German economy and war effort.

The camps were quite different from each other. Auschwitz, the biggest camp, was primarily a place to murder Jews.  Other sites were work camps where the SS had economic reasons to keep workers alive such as Dora where V2 rockets were made by slave labor.  Inmates with skills valuable to the Germans had a much better chance of surviving longer.  I fascinated to learn that there was a unit of about 200 inmates who counterfeited British currency.  They worked inside, had better food and had a much higher survival rate than inmates working outside.  

Wachsmann is the first historian to write a complete history of the camps.  He shows us how The camps were organized while vividly detailing horrors, the sadism, and the central role in murdering those Nazi ideology dictated were parasites, sub-human and enemies of the State.  We see how German doctors were among the most vicious of camp officials, giving lethel injections, performing barbaric experiments and selecting which of newly arriving inmates were at once sent to be killed.

Gas Chambers were phased in as the primary method of Killing because Germans found shoting 

 them traumatic.

Wachsmann shows us The Germans failed attempt to turn Russian  POWs into slaves laborers.  Most were judged to weak and about two million were murdered.  Only about two percent of Russian POWs survived to return home.

Almost everyone who worked at the camps very long stole things that were supposed to be used in war efforts.

There is a lot of information about the Command structure of the Camps.

As the war started to turn against the Germans, hard core anti-semites began to panic, fearing they would not suceed in Killing all of the Jews in the camps.  As portrayed by Wachsmann,most all Germans knew what was going on in camps and did not care much one way or the other.

There is much more in this book.  

“Nikolaus Wachsmann is Professor in Modern European History at Birkbeck, University of London.

He studied at the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge and at Birkbeck, gaining his PhD in 2001. His comprehensive history of the Nazi camps KL, published in 2015, won the Wolfson History Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize, and the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate literary prize. Nikolaus has a particular interest in public history and Holocaust education, and serves on the academic advisory boards of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, as well as the concentration camp memorials Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück. He also curates a free educational website for students and teachers about the history of the Nazi camps.” From https://www.gresham.ac.uk/professors-and-speakers/nikolaus-wachsmann/

Mel Ulm