The Sea Child

The Sea Child by Linda Wilgus, 304 pages

When Isabel was a young girl, she washed ashore in a small Cornish town, apparently orphaned by a shipwreck. A naval officer and his wife soon adopted her and raised her to become the wife of another wealthy up-and-coming officer. But after the Napoleonic wars soon made her a widow, and her discovery of her husband's poor financial choices left her penniless, Isabel moved back to that Cornish town to make a home for herself and possibly learn a bit more about where she came from. What she didn't expect was to get involved in piracy and be the source of local superstition that she's the child of a sea god.

What a captivating historical adventure! Filled with smuggling, espionage, and piracy, this novel encapsulates the word "swashbuckling" to a T. I enjoyed seeing Isabel's transformation from coddled to scrappy, and the antics at sea kept the plot moving. A good summer read for someone who always wanted to be Keira Knightley's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free / Andrew Miller, 410 p.

In the midst of the Napoleonic wars, a young officer is returned to his English home, unconscious and seemingly near death.  The story of the recovery of his body and mind, and what happened in northern Spain to cause his condition, form the core of the novel. As the officer, John Lacroix, travels north to the farthest Scottish isles to rest, he is pursued by events from the war, and by, in particular, a soldier on a mission to exact retribution.   Excellent historical detail and unusual characters make for an often intriguing read. 

Where Shadows Dance

Where Shadows Dance: a Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris  342 pp.

This is an installment from a mystery series I was unfamiliar with. I picked up the audio book to try it out.  While the characters were interesting, the story was a bit over the top. On the eve of the U.S. declaring war on England in 1812, a young British diplomat is discovered to have been murdered when his body was bought by an anatomist from the "resurrection men" who stole it from the cemetery.  The anatomist contacts St. Cyr who is known for solving mysteries. While the body count rises, St. Cyr prepares for his wedding to the headstrong daughter of his enemy. The whole story involves French spies for Napoleon, diplomats from various countries, the kidnapping of St. Cyr's fiancee, but is full of too many convenient incidents. When St. Cyr's fiancee, Hero Jarvis, is kidnapped, not only do the kidnappers let her roam freely about the cottage where she is being held, they also conveniently drink too much while leaving a butcher knife handy and a gun sticking out of a coat pocket. Even though I enjoy historical mystery fiction I think I'll pass on the rest of this series.  

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, 1293 pages.
Well worth reading. There was certainly enough going on in this book to justify three book discussions. The relationships between Pierre and Helene, Natasha and Andrei, Marya and her father, Marya and Nikolai, Anatole and anyone he could convince to run off with him. They were all great.
I enjoyed wide swaths of the war part too, though say the Battle of Borodino, when I mean Austerlitz, and talk about Bagration when I mean Barclay de Tolly. I feel like a smarter person for having read this book, even if I was the last of the participating staff to finish.
Kudos to Kathleen, Annie, and Christa for all of their hard work on a successful series of programs.

Check our catalog (look for the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation).

Downloadable Audio (different translation).