Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye.
The Figurine by Victoria Hislop
Why I have it: The author appeared in the doco, The Marbles.
Summary: When Helena inherits her grandparents’ apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child. Helena discovers that her grandfather, a general in Greece’s brutal military dictatorship, had amassed an array of valuable antiquities. Helena questions how, and what human price was paid for them? Her attempt to make amends for some of her grandfather’s actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of ‘home’, both in relation to looted objects of antiquity, and herself.
I’m thinking: Maybe (it’s very, very long…)
The Mad Wife by Meagan Church
Why I have it: Came up in my Goodreads suggestions because I liked Yesteryear.
Summary: Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the perfect 1950s housewife. Despite the tragic memories that haunt her and the weight of exhausting expectations, she keeps her husband happy. But after she gives birth to her second child, Lulu’s carefully crafted life begins to unravel. When a new neighbor, Bitsy, moves in, Lulu suspects that something darker lurks behind the woman’s constant smile. As her fixation on Bitsy deepens, Lulu is drawn into a web of unsettling truths that threaten to expose the cracks in her own life.
I’m thinking: Maybe.
Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise
Why I have it: Spotted on Insta.
Summary: In Michigan, Sarah’s childhood was defined by fear and silence. As a teenager, she saw a chance to escape and took it. Now, in 1999, she is an artist living on the rugged coast of Donegal, Ireland, where she is known as Saoirse – a name that sounds like the sea and means freedom in the language of her adopted country. But no one must learn of the identity she has stolen in order to survive. When her artwork wins unexpected acclaim, the spotlight of fame threatens to unravel the careful lies that hold her world together.
I’m thinking: Maybe.
Yep, those sound like maybes to me, too.
The Mad Wife could be one for The Marriage Plot!
Oops, that reminds me. I think I was supposed to add a bunch of books to our list, but I forgot where from. Do you remember?
Read Saoirse- couldn’t finish it! Felt totally cringe at points. Thought the abuse overly victimized the main character in a childish way and at other times the romance of it was eye roll. I would say skip
Oops, I quite enjoyed Saoirse! But with reservations. I did have to suspend my disbelief at the way the plot played out and, coming on the heels of The Names and Nesting, it was a bit ‘bandwagon’.
However, I read it at a time when it was just what I wanted and I found it compelling.
The Meagan Church caught my eye. This piece from LitHub might help to place it. One review compares the atmosphere of this with The Bell Jar. Another of her books, The Last Carolina Girl, with Crawdads. https://lithub.com/seven-novels-that-explore-the-lives-of-wayward-youth/ This is Church’s third novel. It’s interesting to find the line between literary and supermarket / airport fiction, the old “middlebrow” definition or “books for women”, perhaps telling us more about the marketing of some (women) authors. What perhaps this crop of novels indicates is that (white) women in America are working to reassess their history and experience, much as the early 19th century feminists in the US saw themselves reflected in the anti-slavery movement. These recent books use historical settings, rural America, and Native American experience (from the angle of how they were dealt with by the white authorities) to begin to unravel what being an American white woman can mean, and exposes the fact that it wasn’t only Ireland which had its Magdalene Laundries. Readers of Australian and Irish fiction will have their own list of novels to add to these titles. I will look out for Church’s titles in the library.
Saoirse’s on my list.
To be totally honest, I’m not really a fan of Hislop anymore. It seems that she really needs a good editor, because her books need a good deal of cutting down. Lots of repetitions and long explanations of things that feel unnecessary, and which detract from the story and the characters. Plus, she includes FAR too many characters, if you ask me. I read The Island long ago (before I was blogging) and The Thread, and they were okay, but not great.
I DNF-ed Saoirse. Mad Wife is still a “maybe” for me