Sunday Salon: A Book Winner!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

I have changed my blog URL/address to fit the title of my blog. Book Dilettante's URL is now http://bookdilettante.blogspot.com (and no longer bookbirddog.blogspot.com). I'm happy those of you reading this have found your way here to the new address!

Congrats to Staci of Life in the Thumb for winning The Woman From Paris giveaway contest! It's a great book and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Today it's 14 degrees outside and so I may stay in though there is some sunlight coming through a thin cloud layer that makes the day pretty bright. Bright! I always love that.

I have several books I'm reading right now: The Blood Gospel: Order of the Sanguines Series by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell, a spirited collaboration by two mystery/thriller writers;
The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin; Perfect Hatred by Leighton Gage; and a few on Kindle, including A Bitter Veil by Libby Fischer Hellman, and several light mystery novels. 

My next book tour is Feb. 1 with the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, reviewing A Tainted Dawn: The Great War by B.N. Peacock. So I'll be reading this very soon!

What have you been reading/doing this past week?

Book Review: The Midwife's Tale by Sam Thomas

Title: The Midwife's Tale: A Novel by Sam Thomas
Published January 8, 2013; Minotaur Books
Genre: historical fiction set in the 17th century

An English gentlewoman (well born) in 1644, Bridget Hodgson is a midwife in York, helping pregnant women during delivery and helping to ensure their infants survive.

All the women of York called on me when they were in need. I eased new mothers' fears when they became pregnant, swearing to them that with God's help I would deliver them safely.... As a midwife, I helped the women when I could and comforted them when I could not. (ch. 18, from an advance reading copy; final copy may differ.)  

Bridget, as a conscientious midwife, follows the laws strictly, no matter how harsh.

I ensured that men who fathered bastards had to pay for their children and that the women who bore them were whipped....Without midwives, lust would reign, and order would turn to chaos. (ch. 18)  

Over the course of the novel,  Bridget seems to mellow and become a little less arrogant, thanks in part to her new deputy, Martha, a woman she hires to help her.

In the mystery novel, Bridget and Martha risk their lives many times over to find the person who killed Stephen Cooper, a man involved in politics who was poisoned in his home. His wife Esther, Bridget's friend, has been jailed and charged with his murder. Bridget believes in her friend's innocence and uses all her influence to probe into the case and help free her friend.

Martha has some mysterious secrets of her own, including a soldier from her past who tries to kill both her and the midwife.

The historical setting is the conflict between the Royalists, supporters of the King, and the rebels, members of Parliament whose armies have surrounded the city of York in 1644. The murdered Stephen Cooper, may have been killed for being sympathetic to the rebels, or he could have been killed for much more domestic reasons.

The book seems true to history and as such is a bit heavy and depressing at times. The condition of women and those belonging to the underclass, the violence, poverty, prejudices and superstitions of the time. Women could be burned at the stake for treason or murder instead of hanged.

I think this is another valuable addition to the list of historical novels that illuminate the past and help us to understand it. It has an excellent character in the midwife and a very good mystery plot.

Sam Thomas is an assistant professor of history at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He has received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Newberry Library, and the British Academy and published articles on topics from early modern Britain to colonial Africa.

Connect with Sam Thomas:  WEBSITE | TWITTER | BLOG

For other reviews of the book, visit the Tour schedule hosted by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. Thanks to the tour for an ARC review copy of the book.

Teaser Tuesday: Three Good Things by Wendy Francis

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB; choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify author and title for readers.  

A fresh cup of coffee in hand, she went out back to check the kringle and was greeted by the sweet scent of apple mingling with blueberry. She pulled the piping hot pastries from the oven and set them on a cooling rack. 

"Perfect," she announced to no one in particular. (ch. 1) 

Title: Three Good Things: A Novel by Wendy Francis
Published January 1, 2013; Simon & Schuster paperback
Genre: contemporary fiction

Publisher's description: "Ellen McClarety, a recent divorcée, has opened a new bake shop in her small Midwestern town, dedicating herself to the traditional Danish pastry called kringle.

Ellen and her younger sister, Lanie, a successful divorce attorney, both long for the guidance of their deceased mother, who left them with this advice: 'At the end of every day, you can always think of three good things that happened.' Ellen and Lanie are close as sisters, until one begins keeping a secret that could change their lives."

What do you think of the teaser? Does it pique your interest in the book? The book description got me curious about what the "secret" is.

It's Monday, Jan. 21: What Are You Reading?

It's Monday: What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

The Comfort of Lies

The Aviator's Wife

Seduction: A Novel of Suspense

Three Graves Full

A contemporary novel, two historical novels, and a mystery! What's on your reading list this week? 

Book Review MERCILESS by Lori Armstrong

Title: Merciless: A Mercy Gunderson Mystery #3 by Lori Armstrong
Published January 8, 2013; Touchstone

Publisher's description:
By Shamus Award-winning author Lori Armstrong, Merciless is the third in the series featuring Mercy Gunderson, a Black Ops army sniper-turned-FBI agent. When two gruesome killings occur on the Eagle River Reservation, Mercy and fellow FBI agent Shay Turnbull can't agree on whether the crimes are connected. Mercy has to make decisions on her own, unable to discuss her cases with her boyfriend, Eagle River County Sheriff Mason Dawson, due to job confidentiality.

With hidden political agendas and old family vendettas causing a rift among the tribal police, the tribal council, and the FBI, Mercy realizes the deranged killer is playing a dangerous game, Mercy targeted as his next victim. Torn between her duty to the FBI and her duties to those she loves, Mercy must unleash the cold, dark, merciless killer inside her and become the predator, rather than the prey.

Comments: This is my first book in the Mercy Gunderson series and I am ready to read the first two that came before it. I was in awe of this tough new protagonist and amazed at the strong yet sympathetic female character the author created. The plot is tense and well crafted. The setting gave a good sense of life on an Indian reservation. I recommend the book for those who like a fast paced mystery.

Thanks to Touchstone for a review copy of this book. 

Book Review: The Woman from Paris by Santa Montefiore

Title: The Woman From Paris: A Novel by Santa Montefiore
Publication date: February 5, 2013; Simon & Schuster
Genre: contemporary British fiction

About the book: The novel has an interesting plot -  a young woman from Paris shows up at a funeral in England and turns the family upside down by revealing she is the illegitimate daughter of the deceased, Lord George Frampton, the wealthy owner of Fairfield Park. George died in a skiing accident before he could tell his wife and three sons about Phaedra Chancellor, his out-of-wedlock daughter born before his oldest son David was born. The family is shocked to find out that George was in contact with this previously unknown daughter and that he recently changed his will to include her.

There are some interesting characters in the Frampton family- the outwardly tough but vulnerable grandmother, Margaret Frampton; the suspicious sister-in-law Roberta who distrusts Phaedra on sight; and George's lonely and lost widow, Lady Antoinette. When Phaedra appears in their lives, they begin to be transformed by her friendly, helpful manner and personality. Even David, the eldest son, begins to be smitten by the stranger who is his half-sister. The novel shows the transformation of the family and also reveals Phaedra's own surprising secrets.

Comments:  I enjoyed the novel and the plot, even though I felt parts were improbable. Overall, the romance novel was still very entertaining. The writing is elegant and smooth and I liked the elderly women the author creates. The descriptive touches of location and the natural surroundings also give a stately atmosphere to the residents and the setting,  Fairfield Park.

For other reviews, visit the tour schedule for The Woman from Paris. Thanks to Tribute Blog Tours for a review copy of the book.

Santa Montefiore is the internationally bestselling author of  novels including The French Gardener and The Last Voyage of the Valentina. She lives in London with her husband, historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore, and their two children.

GIVEAWAY: Tribute Tours is offering a hard copy of the book to a reader, U.S. mailing addresses only, no P.O. boxes, please. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment with an email address..
UPDATE:  Congrats to Staci for winning this contest! .

Y, A Novel by Marjorie Celona

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB; choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify author and title for readers.  First Chapter,  First Paragraph is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

Title: Y: A Novel by Marjorie Celona
Published January 8, 2013; Free Press hardcover
Genre: contemporary fiction

Opening sentences: 

My life begins at the Y. I am born and left in front of the glass doors, and even though the sign is flipped "Closed," a man is waiting in the parking lot and he sees it all: my mother, a woman in navy coveralls, emerges from behind Christ Church Cathedral with a bundle wrapped in gray, her body bent in  the cold wet wind of the summer morning. Her mouth is open as if she is screaming, but there is no sound here, just the calls of birds. 

Publisher's description:
“Y. That perfect letter. The wishbone, fork in the road, empty wineglass. The question we ask over and over. Why? . . . My life begins at the Y.” So opens Marjorie Celona’s debut about a wise-beyond-her-years foster child abandoned as a newborn on the doorstep of the local YMCA. Swaddled in a dirty gray sweatshirt with nothing but a Swiss Army knife tucked between her feet, little Shannon is discovered by a man who catches only a glimpse of her troubled mother as she disappears from view. That morning, all three lives are forever changed.

Bounced between foster homes, Shannon endures abuse and neglect until she finally finds stability with Miranda, a single mother with a free-spirited daughter of her own. Yet Shannon defines life on her own terms, refusing to settle down, and never stops longing to uncover her roots—especially the stubborn question of why her mother would abandon her on the day she was born.

Would you keep reading, based on the opening sentences of the book?