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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I am a huge Maisie Dobbs fan largely because the stories fuse together my two favorite genres - historical fiction and mystery. This one is an excellent addition to the series. It seems that this may be the last novel in the series, or at least the last novel for awhile. At the end I truly felt like I was saying goodbye to a dear friend. I will wonder about Maisie as she moves on to the next chapter of her life. Perhaps this will give the author the opportunity to broaden the scope of the stories, bring in new characters and advance time to bring us closer to WWII.
This has been my favorite thus far in the Maisie Dobbs collection. This time Maisie is doing a lot of contemplating. She isn’t sure if she wants to marry James Compton or just be in a relationship with him. She also wants to travel the world via Maurice’s journals and she wants to do it alone. Throughout Leaving Everything Most Loved, Maisie tackles these tough questions with some ease, but she isn’t quite sure what to do next. She also has a case to solve. This case will cross over one of her unsolved cases from the previous book, Elegy for Eddie. I truly enjoy listening to this series.
There's something about returning to a beloved series that is like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket or finding something you thought you had lost. Though this is not an overall happy or uplifting series, it still brings me joy to read it. What I love about this series is that it does not pull punches or romanticize the post-WWI era London. People are affected in so many different ways by the war...even those who did not participate or were not even born yet. It's amazing to see the terrible ripple effects such a huge event can cause.
I love Maisie Dobbs for her no-nonsense attitude but also how much compassion she has. She always wants to help everyone around her and I'm so proud of her for making a huge change to benefit herself. Though I am sad about how the series must change, I am also so excited to see what she learns in her travels and what her adventures will entail. I hope she meets people from many cultures so they can be represented in the books.
Though this mystery did not have me stumped for long; I guessed the culprit, but couldn't figure out the reasoning until Maisie did. I still loved following her procedure and meeting the new characters along the way. I'm glad she met so many people that were different from her and embraced them all. There were characters that were despicable and Maisie dealt with them in such an admirable way (which I don't think I could have done). The ending has me excited for the next one!
I love Maisie Dobbs for her no-nonsense attitude but also how much compassion she has. She always wants to help everyone around her and I'm so proud of her for making a huge change to benefit herself. Though I am sad about how the series must change, I am also so excited to see what she learns in her travels and what her adventures will entail. I hope she meets people from many cultures so they can be represented in the books.
Though this mystery did not have me stumped for long; I guessed the culprit, but couldn't figure out the reasoning until Maisie did. I still loved following her procedure and meeting the new characters along the way. I'm glad she met so many people that were different from her and embraced them all. There were characters that were despicable and Maisie dealt with them in such an admirable way (which I don't think I could have done). The ending has me excited for the next one!
I am going to admit that when I read this book I did so knowing what was to come in Maisie's life so it was very, very hard to read. I also always get very nervous when a book involves someone outside of my culture becoming involved in learning about it.
Luckily it wasn't anything too traumatic, and Maisie in her self-awareness definitely recognized when she did not know or understand something about this culture. Also this was, in the end, less about the culture of the woman who was murdered, and more about making big life choices—between classes, cultures, and a comfortable life. Something I 100% can relate to as we experience a world that is not what we always thought it was going to be.
I also really found myself appreciating James, Maisie's significant other for the way he really understood what was going on in Masie's head and heart. That their relationship wasn't built (at least in this book) on absolutes or grand pronouncements.
And then there is the Ottobergs (I listen to this in audio book so that might be spelled wrong) who continue to frustrate, and while I see why they are valuable (both to the story and the "war effort") I just, like Maisie, really dislike them. While the ending of this book was a little bit of a cliff-hanger, I left it wanting Maisie to find some joy, even with war on the horizon.
Luckily it wasn't anything too traumatic, and Maisie in her self-awareness definitely recognized when she did not know or understand something about this culture. Also this was, in the end, less about the culture of the woman who was murdered, and more about making big life choices—between classes, cultures, and a comfortable life. Something I 100% can relate to as we experience a world that is not what we always thought it was going to be.
I also really found myself appreciating James, Maisie's significant other for the way he really understood what was going on in Masie's head and heart. That their relationship wasn't built (at least in this book) on absolutes or grand pronouncements.
And then there is the Ottobergs (I listen to this in audio book so that might be spelled wrong) who continue to frustrate, and while I see why they are valuable (both to the story and the "war effort") I just, like Maisie, really dislike them. While the ending of this book was a little bit of a cliff-hanger, I left it wanting Maisie to find some joy, even with war on the horizon.
One of the things I've enjoyed about Winspear's Maisie Dobbs books is how she's consistently pushing the character forward. She could easily have written formula after formula, but instead she tries things, she lets Maisie evolve. This was not the best mystery, but I enjoy where she's taking the character and that's almost more important.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
I have enjoyed this series and her tenth book was very good. Her characters have evolved and aged and her storyline was excellent, pulling in subplots and several twists. I'm hearing this is the last book in the series but I hope not since I feel the author has more to share with us on her characters and their future!
Might be my favorite Maisie Dobbs yet? Maybe because I took a break (got a little tired of our lady inquiry agent after Elegy for Eddie, glad other readers encouraged me to take a break and come back), maybe because I really needed something light and familiar in my present state of mind and after Evelyn Hardcastle.