InSPIREd Sunday & Mosaic Monday in Moscow

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Candy cane colored onion domes of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia - sits on the famous Red Square and is one of the most recognized landmarks of Moscow.  Saint Basil's was ordered built by Ivan the Terrible in the mid-1500s to celebrate a major victory over the Mongols.  Ivan was said to have blinded the cathedral architects so that they could never repeat this design.  Most scholars agree that this is a folklore myth.  Still makes a great story. (photos taken September 2012)

I just finished reading Daniel Silva's newest spy novel, The English Girl.  It's set in Corsica, London and Moscow.  And, as I was reading, realized that I had just seen many of the places that was the scene of the Moscow action in this novel.  I love it when that happens--just makes the book so real.  Here are a few scenes from the novel:

 

Clockwise: Saint Basil and tourist heads(!), church walls ornately painted, closeup of onion domes, GUM Department store beside Red Square and scene of one of Silva's spy capers, Red Square where one of the book's spy operations began, soldier statue in honor of Ivan the Terrible's Mongol victory

 

Clockwise:  Cover of book The English Girl; bridge over the Moska River lit red-white-blue of Russian Federation flag which replaced the Communist hammer and sickle; Saint Basil's at night; history museum on Red Square; Russian "White House"; Red October Chocolate Factory on Moska River at night

BTW, if you like spy novels, highly recommend The English Girl.  I'm planning on traveling with Silva and his main character Israeli agent Gabriel Allon to some other locations like Venice and Amsterdam based on this book!

Linking to InSPIREd Sunday and Mosaic Monday .

InSPIREd Sunday - in a Tuscan Village

Campanile (church belltower) in a small village near Villa Massei in Tuscany, Italy (2000)

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I just finished reading Chris Bohjalian's The Light in the Ruins about a Tuscan noble family who becomes entangled with the conflict between the Germans and the Italian partisans in 1943 WW II that continued for ten years after with devastating results.  In 2000, I went on a garden tour of Tuscany and was able to stay in or visit many of the places in this novel--Florence, Pienza, several hilltowns, villas and farms.  One villa in particular--La Foce--served as the inspiration for Bohjalian's book.  La Foce was bought by Irish-American writer Iris Origo and her husband Marchese Antonio in 1924.  They farmed with help from the villagers and then during the German occupation La Foce was turned into a children's hospital and orphanage.  Origo's diary, War in Val D'Orcia, where she chronicles the war years and their efforts to help their village, provided the inspiration for the fictional The Light in the Ruins.

Come back tomorrow for Mosaic Monday where I'll be sharing photos of La Foce and the Tuscan countryside--if this brief tale has piqued your interest!

Linking to InSPIREd Sunday .

2012 in Review - Books

In this final week between Christmas and the New Year I enjoy thinking about the year that is just about over--what I've enjoyed, experiences great and small, the joys and sadnesses of everyday life. In 2012 I've had some great adventures, developed some new passions, and taken on some new challenges. One thing that has remained constant in my 60+ years is book love--the old fashioned kind with bright covers and printed pages. So far I haven't adopted the new-fangled readers like iPads, Kindles, or Nooks. Still love to OWN my reading, have it stacked on shelves and tables, and be able to re-read, mark and highlight--and loan favorites to friends--at will. So, here you have most of the books I've read in 2012:

And then to break down these stacks a bit further.  First, there would be a lot more books piled on this table, but I love re-reading books that speak to me from the beginning.  Most readers have definite opinions about this, making the point that there are too many good books to keep re-reading the same ones over and over.  For me it's just like visiting dear friends again and again. 

In this category, I'll put these Old Friends:  Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, a mix of time travel and historical fiction set in Scotland, France, and America.  The action shifts from the 1700s to 1900s and put characters in the middle of English-Scottish conflict over the English throne at Culloden to World War II aftermath and the Revolutionary War in America.

I also put Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series in the Old Friends category.  This series is also historical fiction set in New York State, Canada, Scotland and New Orleans of the late 1700s-early 1800s.  These novels deal with the settlement of the north, conflict among white settlers, American Indians, Canadians, French and English for control of the rich resources of the northern forests.

In both the Gabaldon and Donati books the characters are strong, the love stories are true and passionate, family loyalties are steadfast.  Even the children and pets are memorable.  Just what you would want from an old friend, so that's why I don't apologize for reading these again and again. 

Next reading category would be by author or subject.  If I enjoy an author, I want to read all they've written.  This year a friend recommended Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie Mysteries.  Bernie is a private investigator who has a very able canine assistant, Chet.  Together they run the Little Detective Agency from their home in southern California.  Chet is the very funny and quotable narrator of these tales.  When I adopted a new puppy back in April I named him Chet, hoping that he'd be just as much fun as Chet the Elder.  So far he hasn't disappointed!

In 2012 I got interested in Ken Kollett's books again after his Pillars of the Earth was made into a very successful mini series.  Here are all the Folletts I've read this year, including the sprawling Fall of the Giants and the sequel Winter of the World.  Like his books a lot because they're set in the early to mid-1900s against World War I and II and have enough historical background to make them compelling.  I also like how Follett deals with the different social classes--and clashes--as war and commerce narrows the divide between the have and have nots.

Next big category has to be Scandinavian crime fiction.  For me it began with the Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy (Girl with Dragon Tattoo, . . Played with Fire, . . .Kicked the Hornet's Nest).  I've re-read the books this year and seen Swedish and American versions of the films.  From there I became interested in Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander Mysteries and the BBC TV series.  Last year I traveled to Sweden, Denmark and Norway which only increased my interest in Scandinavian crime writers.  Each writer uses the police procedural format with the main character being a personally flawed, but deeply committed to justice for the victim, police detective.  In some cases, especially with the women writers, news reporters tell the crime story.

This year I've read Lisa Marklund, Camilla Lackberg, Hakan Nesser, and Stieg Larsson for Swedish crime.  Jo Nesbo and Karin Fossum's works are set in Norway.  And Jussi Adler-Olsen set in Denmark.  Each of the writers fills his or her novels with current societal issues like unchecked  immigration, domestic abuse, conflict over family roles.  I particularly love the books because I've had the chance to see the crime settings like Vigeland Park in Oslo or City Hall in Stockholm. 

Last category would be the No Category.  Here I've included all the other books that I've read this year from recommendations, liking the author or subject matter.  The Bookseller by Mark Pryor was set in Paris and involved crimes against the bookstall owners along the Seine.  Minding Frankie was bittersweet because it was the last work of much loved Irish writer Maeve Binchy before her death this year.  Private Games by old-crank out-book-a-week James Patterson was a great read because it dealt with attempts to sabotage the Summer Olympics in London.  Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris was a surprise sequel to Chocolat which had Vianne going back to help her arch-enemy with some problems that even chocolate couldn't fix.  And finally, a new writer for me, Paul Sussman--I was reading his The Last Secret of the Temple about the Israeli-Palestine conflict the end of November when it looked like there was going to be all out war between the two countries.  Talk about timely and Sussman provided such a balanced look at both sides of this conflict.  I'll read more from him.

And finally!  Out of all the books I've read this year, here are my four Favorites.  I'll remember each of them for a long time.  In each one the story is about strong women in times of conflict doing what they must to protect their loved ones at great personal cost:  The Dovekeepers--The Masada, Israel, 70 C.E.; Island Beneath the Sea -- Saint-Domingue slave revolt,1770; Broken Paradise--Cuban Revolution, 1956; Those Who Save Us--World War II, Germany, 1940s.

 
A test of a really good book is that you regret when you've finished it, you want others to read it, and you envy them getting to read it for the first time.  I hope to find many more in this category in 2013.  Here's to good reading and I'd really love to have your recommendations.

Teaser Tuesday - Murder in Stockholm

This is the Golden Room of City Hall in Stockholm, Sweden.  Liza Marklund's latest crime fiction, Last Will, opens in this glittering hall with the annual awards ceremony for the Nobel Prize.  The main character, reporter Annika Bengtzon, witnesses the point blank assassination of the Secretary of the Nobel Prize Committee on the dance floor.  In fact, Annika stares into the chilling yellow eyes of the killer just minutes before she murders the Secretary.

Annika is immediately detained by the police as a chief witness and compelled to help the police develop a description of the killer and the events leading up to the attack.  Because of the potential negative impact of information getting out, the police issue a gag order on the reporter.  It couldn't have happened at a worse time for her at the newspaper where she works.  She is not in great favor with her editor and management because she wrote an expose of the family who owned the Evening Post.  Her editor uses the gag order as an excuse to sideline Annika for a couple of months.

Meanwhile, at home Annika's marriage is falling apart.  She does the only thing she knows how--goes after the story on her own.  She soon finds herself in the middle of a story of terror and death that leads back to Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist who was responsible for establishing the Nobel Prizes, so coveted that people are willing to kill for the honor of being a recipient.  Will Annika be able to use her work and love of her two small children to suppress her own demons?

"No angels, she managed to think, thank god the angels are keeping quiet" p. 12

(Meet Chet, my 3 month old puppy.  He's going to be a good reading companion.)

In September 2011 I participated in a great tour of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, prompted, in part, by my love for dark Swedish crime fiction.  Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Camilla Lackberg, Jo Nesbo, Anne Holt and now Liza Marklund to name a few.  Here are a few photos that are the scene for the murders in Last Will:

The Golden Room above is in City Hall which is on Lake Malaren.  I took this photo from my hotel window.  Lake Malaren was a possible escape route for the killer.

The killer stood outside City Hall in the courtyard, smoking a cigarette and waiting for the target to get in place:

This is the Blue Room just inside the courtyard. Annika and other ceremony attendees was dancing here when the killer struck. Making her escape from the Blue Room, she actually stepped on Annika's foot, leaving a boot heel imprint.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.

Teaser Tuesday -Spencer Quinn's Thereby Hangs a Tail & Dog On It

This nose belongs to Chet, the canine half of the Little Detective Agency in Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie mysteries. As Chet describes it "We run a detective agency, me and Bernie, called the Little Detective Agency on account of Little being Bernie's last name. My name's Chet, pure and simple. Headquarters is our house on Mesquite Road, a nice place with a big tree out front, perfect for napping under, and the whole canyon easily accessible out back, if it just happens someone left the gate open. And then, up in the canyon--well, say no more."

Chet is the delightful narrator for these two mysteries. We don't learn much about him except that he has mis-matched ears, is a self-described "one hundred pounder" and chief worrier about the detective agency bringing in enough income to keep up child support for Charlie, Bernie's son and Chet's best buddy,--and repair money for the aging Porshe and dog food. Chet loves riding shot-gun when they're out on a case and welcomes the occasional perk of taste testing a new line of dog treats or sharing a donut with the local police. Chet manages to be pretty much on the case, ready to leap and take a bite out of a perp's leg if necessary. But Chet also is the first to admit that he has occasional lapses in judgment. It only takes Bernie's warning "Che-et!" to get him back on task!




I just love Chet--and so does everyone else who reads these two books. So much that I couldn't limit to just two sentences for this week's Teaser Tuesday. Instead, here's some Chet lines that made me just laugh out loud:


Adelina (potential client)looking him over when they first met: " 'He looks big. I don't recognize the breed. And what's the story with his ears?' My ears again? How rude."

Lt. Stine gives him a treat: "I took the cruller back to my seat and had some quiet time".

When he and Princess (a kidnapped show dog)were on the lam: ". . .felt a pain in my head, a kind of heavy throbbing pain. It made me want to puke, so I did."

His dislike of horses: "Totally unreliable, always twitching for no reason, but humans don't seem to get that, go on and on about how beautiful they are until I just want to trot over to one of those weird legs, the real skinny part, and give it the tiniest. . .but I would never do that, at least not again, after what happened that time at the ranch."

On self restraint during an investigation: "Something about Bernie--or any human--on hand and knees always got me going so I had to wait outside with Colonel Bob."

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.

(Image credit: Chet's Nose- Philip and Karen Smith/Getty Images)

Sunday Morning Trifecta

Ah-h-h! Willie, Gabaldon and the Sunday Courier-Journal.

What to Pack for Scandinavia Tour?

In just a few days I'm leaving on a jet plane for a Scandinavian tour. Have made most of my what to pack decisions--four pairs of black pants, comfortable--I hope--walking shoes, and a new raincoat with generous hood for shelter against all the rain I see in the long range weather forecasts for Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Now I can concentrate on the most important items, other than my camera and plenty of batteries. That's reading material:




Legacy --the inside scoop on Elizabeth Tudor, girl to woman

The Leopard --last of a series of Det. Harry Hole mysteries set in Oslo. I'll be able to walk Harry's city beat.

Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark--travel memoir of Scandinavia written by Mary Wollstonecraft, England's Gloria Steinham, in late 1700s.

The Voyager --must always take an old friend with you on a trip for when homesickness hits. For me, it's Jamie and Claire's adventures.

Planning a trip and learning about where you'll visit is a big part of the pleasure of traveling. Packing is not! Well, except for deciding what books will take up a good portion of your 50 lb. baggage limit.

Teaser Tuesday - Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

On July 16-17, 1942 over 13,000--including 4,000 children--Parisian Jews were arrested by the French police in what became known as the Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup (code name Operation Spring Breeze). Entire families were dragged from their homes over the two days and held in the Velodrome d'Hiver, an indoor cycling arena, without water, food, sanitation, or medical attention. This German Gestapo plan to reduce, or rather exterminate,the Jewish population in occupied France was ruthlessly carried out by policemen and civil servants of the French Vichy government. Parents were forcibly separated from their children and shipped by cattle rail cars to Auschwitz for extermination. Followed by the children. Only about 900 Jews survived the roundup to tell the horrendous stories of the French government, police and ordinary citizens' turning their collective backs on fellow French citizens.

For this week's Tuesday Teaser I've chosen the riveting Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay which, she says, is her tribute to the children of the Vel' d'Hiv'. This was a hard book to read, but I won't forget it--nor should anyone else who reads it.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.




Sarah's Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay

" She woke at night, trembling, thinking of him in the cupboard. She took out the key and stared at it with pain and horror. p. 70

Book description from cover: Paris, July 1942-Sarah, a ten year old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they went door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard--their secret hiding place--and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

Sixty Years Later-Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles on a trail of secrets that link her and her husband's family to Sarah. These secrets change Julia's life dramatically and give her the courage to make some hard life-changing decisions.

I'm always glad when a well-loved book is adapted to film. That's the case with Sarah's Key. Here's the official film trailer and is scheduled for summer 2011 release:



In 1995 French President Jacques Chirac made a public apology to French Jews for the complicit role of the French policemen, civil servants and citizens in the roundup: "These black hours will stain our history forever and are an injury to our past and our traditions. . .France committed that day the irreparable. Breaking its word, it delivered those it protected to their executioners."

Teaser Tuesday - On Hitler's Mountain by Irmgard A. Hunt

Figuring out what will interest blog readers is always a tossup. I'm constantly surprised at the topics that get a lot of hits on Summit Musings. A good example of this puzzle is a post that I wrote about visiting Hitler's infamous mountain retreat, the Eagle's Nest, high in the Austrian Alps and about an hour's drive from Salzburg, Austria. At least one reader clicks on this post almost every day. That's why I was so interested in reading Irmgard A. Hunt's On Hitler's Mountain, her memoir of growing up in the Berchtesgaden valley in a village at the base of Hitler's mountaintop retreat.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.



On Hitler's Mountain, Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood
by Irmgard A. Hunt

" Hitler had chosen Obersalzberg, a hamlet above Berchtesgaden, as his home and headquarters. . . The mountain loomed large over every aspect of my childhood in this highly visible and public place, in the shadow of the Eagle's Nest and near the lair of men whom the world would come to view as monsters." p. 2

Book description: Hunt's memoir provides a vivid, yet homely, account of what it was like to be a child in a Nazi Germany and a daily witness to the historic events that took place on Hitler's mountain. As she went about her childhood activities, she saw the mysterious black cars carrying Nazi and other world leaders to meetings with Hitler on the mountain. She was subjected to the Nazi propaganda and National Socialist teachings at home and in school. Her father was drafted and killed fighting for Hitler early in the war, leaving her mother, sister and herself to struggle on alone. Only her grandfather had the courage to speak out against the Nazis. In May 1945, 11 year old Irmgard saw American soldiers, Easy Company, occupy Hitler's retreat and help bring the war to an end. This is an important memoir for its honest look at what happens when a country loses its way and becomes pawns of evil, amoral leaders. It is the rememberings such as this that will save us from repeating this evil in the future.
__________________________________

Here's excerpts from the "Easy Company Takes Hitler's Eagle's Nest" post that describes my 2008 visit to Hitler's mountain:

September 17--by now I'm at exactly the mid-point of a two week tour of Europe. On this day our tour group travelled from "base camp" in Innsbruck, Austria to Salzburg for a tour of Mozart's home city, spending the majority of our time in the Getreidegasse, or Old Town, where Mozart lived and worked. We were also in Sound of Music country, seeing the church where Maria and Captain von Trapp were married and the estate where Maria cared for his many children and later helped the family escape the Nazis. We even saw the hill where Julie Andrews was filmed singing "The hills are alive. . ." This hill was on the southeast route out of Salzburg which we took for our afternoon destination--Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

The Eagle's Nest is a cliff top fortress about 28 km outside of Salzburg near Berchtesgaden, Germany on the German-Austrian border in the Austrian Alps. We were in luck that day because there was snow falling in the mountains. The cold mist added to the eerie feeling we were all experiencing, knowing the horrible decisions of life and death that were made by the Nazi administration at this evil nest high in the Alps. When we got to the village of Oberzalberg (where Hitler lived when not at the Eagle's Nest) we transferred to special bus equipped to climb the narrow one lane road and around the hairpin curves carved in the side of the mountain. One mis-turn and we would have been tumbling down the mountain to the valley below. Such beauty. Such danger.

After a short bus ride we get off at the base of the mountain and walked through a marble lined tunnel dug 400 ft. into the mountain. From there we took the original brass elevator 400 ft. straight up into the Eagle's Nest building at the top of the mountain. Today this place is a tourist destination and restaurant. In the mid-40s Hitler used this mountain hideaway, or "Teahouse" as he called it, for entertaining foreign dignitaries and members of the Third Reich. There were photos and newsreels of Hitler and his guests looking out over the Alps from the decks, just as tourists were doing that day. (After the tour while waiting by the tunnel for our bus down the hill, we decompressed with an impromptu snowball fight in the parking lot, ganging up on Sandor, the cheeky Aussie, who enjoyed tormenting many of us.)

Hitler's Eagle's Nest was designed and built for Adolph Hitler's 50th birthday by his personal secretary and head of the Nazi Party, Martin Bormann. Incredibly, the construction was done by soldiers who signed on to work cutting a road by hand up the Alps. The work went on 24:7 through all seasons. Many men fell to their deaths in its construction. After all this effort to ingratiate, Bormann was not that successful. Hitler was afraid of heights, among other things. He chose to live in his chalet, Berghof, at a much lower elevation.

In May 1945 American troops, Easy Company--a band of brothers made up of farmers, coal miners, mountain men, sons of the south, and Harvard, Yale, and UCLA graduates--took control of the country surrounding the town of Berchtesgaden,
including houses of the Gestapo police. They also secured the Eagle's Nest in the only way possible by scaling the mountain face. Their job was to search out German generals and SS troopers who were hiding in the Alps.

Before I saw this incredible place, I wish I had known more about Easy Company and the individual soldiers who joined the Army from all walks of life, their only preparation for fighting being sports or hard scrabble work of farming or coal mining. They signed on to train for the parachute infantry for the extra $50 per month they'd earn. Along the way they learned to work as a unit to accomplish their mission and protect their brother soldiers. And to use one of their favorite expressions, "That ain't no chicken shit job."

Teaser Tuesday -- The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg

Recently I wrote about The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg for the Teaser Tuesday reader's meme. This week will carry on looking at Lackberg's crime fiction with The Preacher, only the second of her novels to be translated into English. Lackberg lives and writes in Fjallbacka, a small fishing village/tourist location in northern Sweden. In these two novels Lackberg uncovers some bleak and sinister secrets of some of the most prominent families in the village. As with other Scandinavian murder mysteries we get to observe the local police as they struggle to solve increasingly violent crimes, sometimes involving their own neighbors and acquaintances.
Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.




The Preacher
by Camilla Lackberg

" 'May you burn in hell, Gabriel Hult, along with your father.' She whispered the words and left as abruptly as she'd come. . .Then Gabriel and Laine were alone. . .They exchanged a complicit look. They both knew what it meant that old bones had resurfaced." p. 87

Book description from cover: In the fishing community of Fjallbacka life is remote, peaceful, and for some, tragically short. Foul play was always suspected in the disappearance twenty years ago of two young campers, but their bodies were never found. Until a young boy, playing on the rocky outcropping of the sea, discovered the body of a young woman--and, underneath this victim, the skeletons of the two missing campers.

Young Patrik Hedstrom, detective for the local police, ( character from the Ice Princess and expecting a baby with his companion writer Erica Falck) is put in charge of the investigation into the three murders. With his impending fatherhood, he is keenly aware of the pain of the parents over the loss of their daughters and their need to know, finally, what happened to them. This urgency increases when a second girl goes missing from a local caravan camp site. Hedstrom focuses his attention on the Hults, a feuding clan of misfits, religious fanatics, and criminals. The suspect list is long, but time is short for the detective to find the killer (s) before the missing girl suffers the same fate as the other three women.

Teaser Tuesday - The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

Fans of Scandinavian crime fiction/police procedural writers such as Stieg Larsson (Girl with Dragon Tattoo trilogy) and Henning Mankell (Kurt Wallander mysteries) may appreciate a feminine voice in this very popular genre. Camilla Lackberg adds this perspective in The Ice Princess, set in Fjallbacka, a once thriving fishing village in northern Sweden since the 1800s. Now the town is a favorite tourist destination and Lackberg's hometown.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.



The Ice Princess
by Camilla Lackberg

"Erica hadn't been in this house for a long time, but she had once known it well, and she knew where the bathroom was. She shivered in the cold despite her warm clothing. The door to the bathroom swung slowly inward, and she stepped inside." p. 8

Book Description: Writer Erica Falck leaves her life in Stockholm on hold temporarily to return to her hometown Fjallbacka. Erica's parents had recently died in a car accident and now she and her younger sister must settle their parents' estate.

Immediately, on arrival in Fjallbacka, Erica is faced with the shocking discovery of her childhood friend Alex, dead of an apparent suicide. The writer in Erica senses that something is not right. She teams up with local police detective Patrik Hedstrom. They uncover shocking evidence of dysfunctional families, adulterous affairs, domestic violence and other secrets set against scenes of domesticity in this tranquil fishing village. The sins of the fathers--and mothers--destroy the lives of the present generation. Who must answer for these crimes?

Teaser Tuesday - The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

Hairpin curves on narrow winding roads in the Cevennes Mountains of southeast France--such as these-are just some of the many challenges facing Catherine Parkstone, the heroine of Rosy Thornton's A Tapestry of Love. Equal parts romance and travelogue, Thornton tells her story with a warm, engaging voice. Not long into the book began thinking: I really love this story, especially the main character, the French farmers and villagers and their way of life. For this reason I chose The Tapestry of Love for this week's Tuesday Teaser.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.




The Tapestry of Love
by Rosy Thornton

"The things we think we want," he said softly, "sometimes it turns out they're not what we really want at all."
"No." It was all she could manage, a simple acknowledgement, though it might just as well be taken as denial. p. 265

Book Description: After her divorce Catherine. already in her late 40s, sells her home in England and moves to a small hamlet in the Cevennes Mountains. She leaves behind two grown children, an ailing mother, a lawyer sister, and an ex-husband with whom she's on cordial terms. Catherine rents a house just outside the village with a garden, out buildings--enough land to make her neighbors think she wants to farm. Catherine has other work in mind. She does needlework and sews "soft" furnishings enough, she hopes, to earn a living from sales to her neighbors and people in surrounding villages. Her color and theme inspirations come from the mountain views around her. Catherine very soon is involved in the lives of her neighbors, including the mysterious Patrick Castagnol. Will she be able to maintain her famous common sense with him around?

For several years I have been a blog friend with Debs Carr of Deb Carr's Daydreams . Debs writes women's fiction in the U.K. and is a member of the Romantic Novelist's Association. Every week she shares her latest reading and does reviews for many of the books she features on her blog. Rosy Thornton's a Tapestry of Love was one of the many she reviewed that I wanted to read--enough to track down on Amazon from the U.K.

Teaser Tuesday - Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Book one of Ken Follett's Century Trilogy begins on June 22, 1911, coronation day for King George V at Westminster Abbey in London. To the northwest of London in the mining town of Aberowen, South Wales, 13 year old Billy Williams went down in the pit for the first time. On nearby Ty Gwyn (Welsh for White House) estate, Earl Fitzherbert and his family live in wealth and priviledge by licensing the mineral rights to rich coal seams beneath the Fitzherbert farm lands. Fall of Giants is the story of five families--American, German, Russian, English and Welsh-- intertwined and conflicted by class, ideology, nationality,and world views in the leadup to World War I and its initial conflicts. ("Barmouth Evening" by Welsh artist Christopher David Williams, 1873-1934)

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host Miz B over at Should Be Reading as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.


Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett

December 24, 1914, battle trenches near Ypres on France and Belgium border, Welsh Major Earl Fitzherbert:

"He spotted two sergeants, one British and one German, deep in conversation. He tapped the Brit on the shoulder. 'You!' he said. 'What the devil are you doing?'

The man answered in the flat guttural accent of the Cardiff docks. 'I don't know how it happened,sir, exactly. Some of the Jerries got up on their parapet, unarmed, and shouted, ''Happy Christmas,' then one of our boys done the same, then they started walking towards one another and before you could say chips everyone was doing it.' " p. 384

Book Description: As with this description of the WW I Christmas Truce of 1914, Follett tells the stories of five very different families as they live through the drama and separations of the First World War and the corresponding fight for worker rights and women's suffrage. Follett commented in an interview that his approach to historical fiction was to not take liberties with historical facts for the sake of advancing the story. In actuality, he had eight historical scholars of the period fact check his writing before publication. This attention to detail adds great richness and believeability to the stories of individual characters.

When I came to this Christmas Truce account in Fall of Giants, I was delighted. It reminded me of the 2005 Academy Award-nominated film Joyeux Noel which tells the powerful story of other soldiers who spontaneously decided to lay down their arms--for just one night--and walk out to meet each other in No Man's Land between the trenches and wish each other a "Merry Christmas." Here's the trailer:



Another example of how literature, art, music, and drama ties all the great stories together and helps us make sense of it all.

Teaser Tuesday - A Cup of Friendship by Deborah Rodriguez

First there was Kabul Beauty School, Deborah Rodriguez's factual account of moving from the U.S. to Kabul, Afghanistan as an almost middle-aged woman looking for a new life challenge and work other than that of mother to grown sons. In the U.S. Rodriguez was a beauty salon owner and operator. Once in Kabul she was drawn into the plight of Afghan women--their struggles to support their families and enjoy some independence from husbands, fathers and brothers. She also saw that Afghan women loved and enjoyed being beautiful even though their famous beauty must be hidden behind the veil in public. Through trial and error--and sometimes plain bravado--she was able to establish the Kabul Beauty School where women could train to be beauticians and offer the Afghan style of beauty treatments as well as learning to be good business women. Now in A Cup of Friendship, Rodriguez turns to fiction with a twist. Still in Kabul, but now it's a coffee shop.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host Miz B over at Should Be Reading as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.



A Cup of Friendship, a Novel
by Deborah Rodriguez

"Yazmina began to sob--for the baby that was doomed before it was born, and for Halajan and how, as independent as she was, she could not move mountains, after all. . .With sadness and optimism she wept for all the daughters of Afghanistan." p. 140

Book Description: Sunny, a 38 year old American who's made her share of bad choices and mistakes, has finally found her niche operating a very popular coffee shop for the wide variety of expatriate civilians and military, as well as local Afghans, who live and work in Kabul and surroundings after the war. Sunny operates the shop with the help of several Afghans including her landlady Halajan, a daringly independent woman, and her son Ahmet who is locked in the traditional Muslim male head of the family role. And then a beautiful young , pregnant widow Yazmina ends up on their doorstep after escaping a couple of war lords to whom she was sold by her uncle for his drug debts. Her plight and the efforts of the coffee shop patrons to help her challenges the established beliefs of everyone involved. Will the bonds of friendship be stronger than a culture that accepts violence and subjugation of its women as the norm?

If, like me, you are fascinated by the Middle East and all its contrasts, Kabul Beauty School and A Cup of Friendship will give you a revealing look behind the scenes at the culture and day to day life of Afghanistan. In particular, you will learn to appreciate the daily struggles of Afghan women and their determination to survive in a sometimes unspeakably violent culture.

Teaser Tuesday - Henning Mankell's "The Troubled Man"

Henning Mankell, one of Sweden's most prolific crime writers, has delivered the final Kurt Wallander mystery. In this tenth novel following the career of the brusque, effective and, at times, controversial police inspector in the small coastal town of Ystad, Sweden. In this series finale, Wallander is 60 years old, in poor health, lonely, and worried about his future. He struggles to maintain good relationships with family as always. He is in frequent conflict with colleagues in the Ystad police department. Even with all his shortcomings, he still knows how to get to the bottom of the most challenging case. In reading this novel, the question is: who is "The Troubled Man"? The main suspect in the crime? Wallander himself? Or, both?

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host Miz B over at Should be Reading as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may be your meme. If you want to play, just click on Miz B's link above for the very simple rules.

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

"The only thing that struck him right now as being an incontestable fact was that Hakan von Enke had stood face-to-face with him in a side room during a birthday party on Djursholm and seemed to be deeply troubled. That's where it all began, Wallander thought. It began with the troubled man." pp. 207-8

Book Description: In Stockholm a retired, high ranking naval officer disappears on a routine daily walk. Soon thereafter, the officer's wife disappears also. The investigation falls under Stockholm police jurisdiction. Wallander is on vacation/sick leave at his home outside Ystad. In typical Wallander fashion he becomes involved in this case because the presumed victims are his daughter's future in-laws. The investigation leads back to Sweden's involvement in the Cold War and suspected espionage activities involving submarine maneuvers within Sweden's maritime borders.

Mankell's Kurt Wallander mysteries were first adapted into a Swedish television series. This highly acclaimed production was then adapted into a PBS Masterpiece Mystery series starring Kenneth Branagh as Wallander. From the beginning, I was drawn to the series theme song "Nostalgia" by Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo. Here she performs the song in one of the setting for "Sidetracked" from the first season. The song captures the Wallander character.