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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I don't read many mysteries. This one caught my attention thanks to the book Among Others, by Jo Walton. I'm really glad I read it, and I've picked up a couple more Tey mysteries. I do enjoy the writing style of the 1930s.
Rabbit-holes
In the early pages of [b:Barley Patch|7140293|Barley Patch|Gerald Murnane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1258141652l/7140293._SX50_.jpg|7404210], which I'm currently reading, Gerald Murnane talks about the images that have remained in his mind from books he read at the impressionable age of eleven or twelve. One of those images is of a two storey house which lies at the bottom of a great green hill crowned by a clump of beeches, and across which a beautiful woman is riding a fine horse. Another unrelated book memory of Murnane's concerns Charles Kingsley's [b:Hereward the Wake|38200797|Hereward the Wake 'Last of the English', Volume I|Charles Kingsley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516878151l/38200797._SY75_.jpg|18413522], and centers around Murnane's child's imagination allowing him to enter the story to comfort Hereward's neglected wife in her loneliness.
I admit to being less interested in Murnane's account of Hereward the Wake (it sounded more like historical fiction, which I generally avoid) than in his much more interesting account of the book featuring the woman rider on the fine horse, so I decided to pause my reading of Barley Patch and read Josephine Tey's [b:Brat Farrar|243397|Brat Farrar|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431290764l/243397._SY75_.jpg|67009121] straight away.
In Tey's book I found reference to a strip of lilac cloth associated with a jockey's 'colours' which propelled me back into Murnane's essay [b:Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs|3069620|Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs|Gerald Murnane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1668552888l/3069620._SY75_.jpg|3100630] which is partly about his preoccupation with horse racing and the colours worn by his favourite jockeys.
But I found something else in Tey's book. I found a brief reference to the the favourite book-memory of the woman-rider character who featured so vividly in Murnane's own book-memory. Hers centered around the main character in Charles Kingsley's Hereward the Wake, and the adventures she imagined herself having by Hereward's side (oblivious to his neglected wife)!
So, for the relief of my connection-obsessed mind, I downloaded Kingsley's piece of historical fiction and took a look at it. It's a novel about the life of Hereward the Wake/the Watchful, a knight who lived in eleventh century England. But here's an interesting thing: it turns out that Hereward's mother was Lady Godiva. The only image I and many others may have of Lady Godiva is of a beautiful woman riding a fine horse across a landscape just like the character in the Tey book! Well, not quite 'just like'. In the mythology around Lady Godiva, she rode naked through the streets of Coventry to fulfill a bargain she made with her husband so that he might lower the cruel taxes on the people of the city. She stipulated that everyone in the town stay indoors and that their houses remain completely shuttered up. They all did as she requested—except for one man who peeped at her through a gap in his shutters, and that's where the expression 'Peeping Tom' is said to come from.
So where am I going with all this, I ask myself. Well, although these connections are not made by Murnane, it occurs to me that they are a little bit relevant to one of the themes in his 'fictions': the preoccupation of many of his main characters with peeping between a gap in shutters or in a doorway or a clump of trees at woman characters who may sometimes be undressed and who may sometimes need comforting in their distress. I find that incredibly interesting—though I don't expect anyone else to! I write reviews mainly for myself after all, so that I'll figure out something I didn't see before.
And now I'm smiling as I remember that when I set out to post a quick review of this little book this morning, I thought I'd simply write five or six snappy words about it and then get back to the other longer reviews I'd like to post before the end of the year. If I'd done that I'd never have figured out all these interesting-to-me connections!
And now, as reviewing time runs out, I need to decide which of the remaining two outstanding reviews will get the snappy treatment...
In the early pages of [b:Barley Patch|7140293|Barley Patch|Gerald Murnane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1258141652l/7140293._SX50_.jpg|7404210], which I'm currently reading, Gerald Murnane talks about the images that have remained in his mind from books he read at the impressionable age of eleven or twelve. One of those images is of a two storey house which lies at the bottom of a great green hill crowned by a clump of beeches, and across which a beautiful woman is riding a fine horse. Another unrelated book memory of Murnane's concerns Charles Kingsley's [b:Hereward the Wake|38200797|Hereward the Wake 'Last of the English', Volume I|Charles Kingsley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516878151l/38200797._SY75_.jpg|18413522], and centers around Murnane's child's imagination allowing him to enter the story to comfort Hereward's neglected wife in her loneliness.
I admit to being less interested in Murnane's account of Hereward the Wake (it sounded more like historical fiction, which I generally avoid) than in his much more interesting account of the book featuring the woman rider on the fine horse, so I decided to pause my reading of Barley Patch and read Josephine Tey's [b:Brat Farrar|243397|Brat Farrar|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431290764l/243397._SY75_.jpg|67009121] straight away.
In Tey's book I found reference to a strip of lilac cloth associated with a jockey's 'colours' which propelled me back into Murnane's essay [b:Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs|3069620|Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs|Gerald Murnane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1668552888l/3069620._SY75_.jpg|3100630] which is partly about his preoccupation with horse racing and the colours worn by his favourite jockeys.
But I found something else in Tey's book. I found a brief reference to the the favourite book-memory of the woman-rider character who featured so vividly in Murnane's own book-memory. Hers centered around the main character in Charles Kingsley's Hereward the Wake, and the adventures she imagined herself having by Hereward's side (oblivious to his neglected wife)!
So, for the relief of my connection-obsessed mind, I downloaded Kingsley's piece of historical fiction and took a look at it. It's a novel about the life of Hereward the Wake/the Watchful, a knight who lived in eleventh century England. But here's an interesting thing: it turns out that Hereward's mother was Lady Godiva. The only image I and many others may have of Lady Godiva is of a beautiful woman riding a fine horse across a landscape just like the character in the Tey book! Well, not quite 'just like'. In the mythology around Lady Godiva, she rode naked through the streets of Coventry to fulfill a bargain she made with her husband so that he might lower the cruel taxes on the people of the city. She stipulated that everyone in the town stay indoors and that their houses remain completely shuttered up. They all did as she requested—except for one man who peeped at her through a gap in his shutters, and that's where the expression 'Peeping Tom' is said to come from.
So where am I going with all this, I ask myself. Well, although these connections are not made by Murnane, it occurs to me that they are a little bit relevant to one of the themes in his 'fictions': the preoccupation of many of his main characters with peeping between a gap in shutters or in a doorway or a clump of trees at woman characters who may sometimes be undressed and who may sometimes need comforting in their distress. I find that incredibly interesting—though I don't expect anyone else to! I write reviews mainly for myself after all, so that I'll figure out something I didn't see before.
And now I'm smiling as I remember that when I set out to post a quick review of this little book this morning, I thought I'd simply write five or six snappy words about it and then get back to the other longer reviews I'd like to post before the end of the year. If I'd done that I'd never have figured out all these interesting-to-me connections!
And now, as reviewing time runs out, I need to decide which of the remaining two outstanding reviews will get the snappy treatment...
Amazing that a book published in the 1950s can have the same unreconstructed classism as Oliver Twist did - a positively Victorian ideology pervades this book. Reasonably fun thriller though. Probably more fun if you’re into horses
This is an intriguing and entertaining story that follows Brat Farrar as he returns home (possibly) to his family estate after being thought dead for 8 years. The story starts slow as the scene is set and the characters and history are introduced but then things begin to pick up as the past is brought to light including the circumstances of Brat/Richard's disappearance become clearer. The final twist is unexpected and shocking and one that makes the slow build up well worth it.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a great mystery and is one of those stories that feels like it was written more recently than it was (1949). We are following the Ashby family whose eldest son, Simon, will soon come of age and inherit the family's estate. At least, he was the eldest until a young man arrived, claiming to be Simon's older brother Patrick, who had been missing for years and presumed dead. We the reader know from the beginning that "Patrick" is pulling a con, but it is very enjoyable to watch how it all plays out.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
gosh, this is good. I love stories about redemption and this isn't that -- in Brat's words, it's about retribution. No word misplaced, no unneeded story lines. I had no previous knowledge of Josephine Tey, am intrigued by her accomplishment and long for more. The little I've learned of her life (she appears to have been very private) suggests there's more to read and there's value in it, but Tey's writing is hard to find. I'll return to this story in future -- it offers so much.
I seem to be reading lots of stuff from the 1940s and 50s lately. This has been on my radar for a long time and did not disappoint. You figure out Who and What pretty early on, and from there, it's all filling in the details of Why and How - but so well-done, that you don't mind.
Very enjoyable classic British mystery. Can't believe I hadn't read this one until now.