The Woman Who Waited: A Novel

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might have been better in French...

Emotions or Logic...You Decide

Her honour is an essence that's not seen

The Woman Who Waited: A Novel
Andrei Makine
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Suite Francaise

ASIN: 1559707747

Book Description

A moving, utterly captivating love story: Romeo and Juliet as if told by Chekhov or Dostoevsky. In the remote Russian village of Mirnoje a woman waits, as she has waited for almost three decades, for the man she loves to return. Near the end of World War II, 19-year-old Boris Koptek leaves the village to join the Russian army, swearing to the 16-year-old love of his life, Vera, that as soon as he returns they will marry. Young Boris, who with his engineering battalion fights his way almost to Berlin, is reported killed in action crossing the Spree River. But Vera refuses to believe he is dead, and each day, all these years later, faithfully awaits his return. Then one day the narrator arrives in the village, a 26-year-old native of Leningrad who is fascinated by both the still-beautiful woman and her exemplary story, and little by little falls madly in love with her. But how can he compete with a ghost that will not die? Beautifully, delicately, but always powerfully told, Andre Makine delineates in masterly prose the movements and madness that constitute the dance of pure love.

Customer Reviews:

might have been better in French..........2007-02-10

On first glance, this book is about a women, who waits 30 years for the return of her fiancee at war. She lives among the dying widows, the old, faithful ones in a life punctuated by startling moments of beauty and tenderness. The use of language is exceptionally beautiful in this book. The story takes on a dream like quality; colorful, vivid yet almost surreal at times. On a deeper level, The antagonist symbolizes the silent death of Russia, "the winner of the War"- caught in between the empty lure of Communist regime and the propagation of western filth.

Emotions or Logic...You Decide .......2006-04-02

Makine has given us quite a thought-provoking novel...touching on life choices...the emotional aspect of our choices...and the logical aspect of our choices, and the borders that are crossed with both choices. Some of us choose with our hearts, while others choose the logical (or what seems to be logical) path to live our lives.

The 26-year old narrator in this novel is given an opportunity to travel to a remote area of Russia near the White Sea, in order to write about the culture and traditions of the women in the town of Mirnoe, a town that is a dot on the geographical map, and also a dot on the map of time. He arrives with preconceived notions, and a sense that the small town, borders on the edge of limbo, and is inhabited by those with simple minds.

It is a town that has stood still, has not moved forward...one with barely enough children to fill a one-room schoolhouse...and a town whose residents are mainly women...who have lost the men in their lives, to war. These women all have one common ground...they wait for their loved ones to return. The wait outlasts their lives. The women are aging...and dying quickly...and one woman...Vera...is committed to overseeing their burials...out of respect for their determination, and out of a deep-rooted sense of obligation.

Vera, herself, is in the same situation...waiting for her sweetheart to return from war...waiting for 30-years...from the time she was 16-years old. She made a verbal committment to him that she would wait for him, and wait for him, she does. She has built her entire life upon his return..including the placement of the chair to her dining table...which faces the window that overlooks the path he would have to walk upon his return...she wants to be able to see him immediately. She has become a creature of habit, within her world, a world that the narrator sees as simple, ridiculous, illogical, and a world full of surprises that opens his eyes, and awakens him, eventually. She has chosen to emotionally survive, in the best way she can. She is not the sum of her exterior, not the sum of her desire and need to wait for a man who has not yet returned...she is much more complex, than this 26-year old narrator ever imagined.

Deep within her is a vibrant soul, and a woman of great substance, dignity, intelligence, intensity, confidence and fear.
She is literally, a woman of beauty, from the inside out. Her choices have been thought out, concise and clear, and she has knowingly made them, realizing that they might not be logical to others, and even at times to herself. She has chosen to live where she does for reasons in addition to the waiting for her sweetheart. I will not divulge the contents of the book, in order to explain those reasons.

The narrator makes many assumptions about Vera, unfounded assumptions not based on fact. The narrator, himself is waiting, in a sense, waiting for the woman he loves to acknowledge him. But, he does not see that he is basically in the same situation as Vera, due to his shallow emotional shell. His life is based upon superficial behavior, as an artistic person, his lifestyle borders on the theory of passion, lust and the bizarre. The narrator eventually begins to see Vera for the complete person she is...and he falls in love with her.

The end has a surprise or two...and the novel is completely realized. Emotions or logic, you decide which is the better path, or if life is a blend of both.

Her honour is an essence that's not seen.......2006-03-21

William Shakespeare, Othello.

Andrei Makine's newest offering is "The Woman Who Waited". It is the story of a man pining for a woman he can never have, a woman living a life of "grievous beauty" waiting senselessly for a man who will never return. As with much of Makine's other works it is an elegiac prose-poem on loss and yearning. Although "The Woman Who Waited" did not have quite the same impact on me as some of Makine's earlier works ("Music of a Life" and "Dreams of My Russian Summers" come to mind) it is, nevertheless, a wonderfully realized piece of writing.

Makine, for those not familiar with his work, was born in the Soviet Union in 1958. He emigrated to France as a young man. He writes in French. (The Woman Who Waited was superbly translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan, Makine's translator of choice). Makine's work for me combines the grace and elegance of the best French writers and the sad dark soul of the best Russian writers.

The unnamed narrator of Woman Who Waited is a cynical 26-year old resident of Leningrad. It is 1975, the midst of the Brezhnev era, and the narrator is part of a circle of artists and writers who chafe under the leaden weight of the regime. They smoke, drink, and scoff at notions of Soviet (and petit bourgeois) morality by adhering to notions of "free love". Random, emotion free couplings are the order of the day.

The narrator takes an opportunity to leave St. Petersburg to research customs and folk lore in the sub-Artic town of Mirnoe. Located close to the White Sea, near Murmansk and Archangelsk, Mirnoe is as close to a ghost town as you are likely to find. It is populated mostly by old ladies, a few old men, and just enough children in the area to support a one-room school house. Upon arrival in Mirnoe the narrator sees Vera. She is 46, self-composed and for the narrator a vision of some ideal version of grace and beauty. The narrator quickly hears that Vera, the local school teacher, said goodbye to her husband in 1945 at the town railway station. Sixteen at the time, Vera last words to her 18-year old husband promised to wait for him to return. Within weeks, during the successful battle for Berlin the husband is reported missing and presumed dead. Despite the virtual certainty of his death Vera has spent the next 30-years waiting chastely for the husband who will never return. As one cynical character, Otar, says to the narrator, Vera may be the only woman in Russia worth loving. The novel moves on from there in the form of the narrator's growing obsession with Vera. The life of Vera is revealed slowly to the reader as the narrator seeks to learn everything he can about her life. Along the way we see that many of his assumptions (and a few of my own) about Vera stand on shaky ground. As the novel nears its end we are treated to a fine example of being careful what we wish for.

Makine's writing is sparse and to the point. He has said repeatedly that he does not write to tell the reader what to think. He writes to tell a story as sparsely and concisely as he can and leave the thinking to the reader. That is one of the great challenges of reading Makine and one of the continuing great pleasures. You have to be actively engaged in the inner life of his characters, Makine does not do that work for you.

As I read The Woman Who Waited it reminded me of Jean Jacque Rousseau's wonderful epistolary novel "Julie or the New Heloise". In that novel the two main characters exchange a series of letters in which feelings conflict with intellect and where passion confronts purity and noble sentiment. The writing is dramatically different but some of the themes of each seem to bear more than a passing resemblance.

Early in the book Makine notes of Vera, as she walked along the shoreline only to stop at the same mailbox she had stopped at every day for thirty years that "what remained was the essence of things". Ultimately, the essence is the dish served by Andrei Makine, one without frills or adornments. I think it clear after reading "The Woman Who Waited" that Makine has provided us with a character in Vera whose honour is an essence that is seen.

This is yet another book by Andre Makine that deserves a wide audience.

Book Description

In the tradition of Avon's successful anthologies, four of our brightest mystery and romance authors unite to bring us a wonderful collection of Christmas mysteries and tales of romantic suspense, with each author's unique style enriching this fantastic and seasonal compilation.

Following the success of such anthologies as The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown and Motherhood is Murder, we have now brought together the best of both genres in one delightful collection of Christmas tales. In the expert hands of four unsurpassed storytellers, "the season of giving" takes on an air of mystery. Get ready for a stockingful of shocking––a potent holiday punch spiked with surprises, a hearty dash of romance and a twist of murder!

The incomparable Christie Ridgway sends a shy, lonely teacher on a mundane pre–Yuletide errand that becomes the most daring, dangerous, and titillating adventure of her life. Award–winning mystery master Katherine Hall Page's plucky sleuth Faith Fairchild discovers a Christmas miracle that comes wrapped in deception. Judi McCoy's spirited career girl Claire St. Germaine receives a truly magical gift with very mysterious origins. And Rebecca Mayfield, the delightful creation of Joanne Pence, discovers the hard way that Santa isn't always a saint.

Filled with Christmas surprises, mystery, romance, and suspense, this will make the perfect gift for both romance and mystery fans.

Customer Reviews:

Salute the Salt; Sugar's On the Lamb........2005-10-04

This is an exquisite collection of sparkling stories by four great authors. Each story highlights a uniquely delightful twist, resulting in seraphim-fresh starlight (compared to the typical slobbery stuff).

I've rarely been drawn to short stories or books with collections of shorter works. When I take time to get into a book and memorize details, I like to stretch out for a while with that investment, which is why I seek series. But, I was pleasantly surprised that each of these stories was easy to get into, easy to read, and regularly called to me pleasantly to catch another bit. This type of collection is a great way to addict readers to each of the authors presented, which might be the plan!

If it weren't for Joanne Pence, I wouldn't have overcome my prejudice against short collections and holiday sticky syrup, so I read her story first, and savored every quarter-inch of it.

The Thirteenth Santa blossomed Rebecca & Richie from seedlings in the Angie & Paavo series, and the match making of this odd couple was perfecto! (Kissing fingertips in salute.). Rebecca was the perfect female to yank Richie out of the caricature woodwork and into the hot-light-reality of flesh-and-bones. Rebecca's displayed holiday loneliness, as she pranced around the precinct in solitary simplicity, shot an instant warmth into this reader, who had previously taken a mild dislike (as the author intended) of the female homicide inspector's romantic interference with Angie and Paavo.

The 13th's humor was entertainingly dark enough to dim the usual garish Christmas glare of sweet & light, and it exposed perfectly the type of cloistered chuckles big city policemen resort to, to save their sleigh bells during holiday cheer, especially when they're on duty and everyone else seems to be lapping up the luxury of home.

It was a hoot following Rebecca's periodically listing infractions under her breath, as Richie casually collected mini-crimes as her streetwise, unlikely sidekick. The violations were merely misdemeanors, so maybe that was why Rebecca couldn't build up any resistance or righteousness, and the hand cuffs stayed in storage. Or, maybe it was because she wasn't sure which way she'd use them once released from her (Pandora's) purse.

Loved the funny, geriatric, non-generic Santas, aging with realistic loss of various faculties, but without loss of spirit, which made the fun poked at-and-with them delightfully tasteful, especially through the spyglasses of their hilarious Mafiosa attitudes and accents. Being half Italian myself I can connect with the banter... though I'm not connected myself (as far as I know). Who knows, maybe if I were connected my sci fi and mystery series manuscripts would have already been on the International bookshelves! Yeah, yeah. All in good time ... and company.

The scene picked up to a higher plateau of tangy, balsamic spice, when Angie's "Momma Mia" (Serefina) brought the ingredients for edible gifts, and zapped the hilariously red-garbed, well-connected celebration with her background and presence.

There was also the great scene between Paavo and Rebecca, "To be or not to be" too typically "cop" during the holiday season when the geriatric Mafia joins the family party.

Loved the 13th's ending, too, with the short story ambiance closing the scene with hope and positive speculation, without losing its zing into an epistle of explanation.

For my tastes this was delightful entertainment at its holiday best, like true Italian pastries and constable humor, a bare essence of sweet with enough anise-seedy-spice to repel the gooey, parasitic type of overdone, overwhelming sentiment which usually has me avoiding holiday collections.

This is true warmth of spirit at its zesty best, no slobbers necessary but enough saliva for a sensual stew. This one I like.

And, I'm happy to report that each of the other three entries (even though Pence's story ended the sequence) follow the R&R (Rebecca & Richie) suit of enough sauce to liven the soup. I liked the fact that 2 of the 4 stories kept the mystery at the fore, with the romance as a non-graphic sideline; while the other 2 stories, being more romantically inclined, provided typically tangy, but tasteful sexual undertones.

Though I've read and reviewed nearly all Pence's culinary mystery series (which is one of the reasons for my reading her 13th Santa story first in this collection), I hadn't read any of the other 3 writers' work. I wasn't disappointed in their holiday offerings here, and am intrigued to expand my reading in the directions of McCoy, Page, and Ridgway.

These 4 authors are mature character and story builders. Maybe their genuine warmth and lack of hype enhances their abilities to write such sensitive human stories, without drowning in the soup.

I could go into the same detail with each story as I did for Pence, but I've passed the epistle mark. Maybe my gift should be to leave the other 3 to surprise, without any hype intended, except to kiss my fingertips again in salute for each!

(Go) Out on a Limb; (Meet) The Two Marys; (Kiss) The Twelve Frogs of Christmas; (Bless) The Thirteenth Santa.

Meet Christie Ridgway, Kathrine Hall Page, Judi McCoy, and Joanne Pence. (The words in parentheses are my teasers for each title.)

Blessings to all ... & pass the salt. Travel the Night with spirit and fun. Lighten up with the dawn when it comes. It usually arrives, just in time.

Working toward my sunrise,
Linda G. Shelnutt

A collection of intriguing and individually unique stories .......2005-08-30

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

This collection of intriguing and individually unique stories is bound to make for some good fireside reading at this time of year.

In the first story of this collection, Out on a Limb by Christie Ridgway, readers meet Stacy Banks, an unassuming kindergarten teacher who never takes risks in her life. This year, just in time for Christmas, she decides to chance it and ask her sexy neighbor, Ryan, to attend a Christmas party with her. Clothed only in a dress made of wrapping paper, she heads down to the dock to catch him on his boat and invite him to be her date. Never could she have expected that this was about to become the most adventurous... and dangerous... night of her life.

The action is flying high in this story, with adventure after adventure for Stacy and Ryan. There are shoot-outs, drug cartels, and crooked cops, all with plenty of romance to round it out. Readers will like that they are kept guessing for much of the story, trying to figure out who the bad guys are and if Ryan is one of them. All Stacy wants is to try something new and get a little adventure in her life by asking Ryan out on a whim. When she gets much more than anticipated, how she deals with it is amusing, and makes the reader realize she's got spunk, even if she suppresses it normally.

The second story, The Two Marys, by Katherine Hall Paige, was probably this reviewer's favorite story in the series. Readers meet plucky Faith Fairchild who is called in to help a neighbor, Mary Bethany, who finds a newborn baby and a huge stack of cash in her goats' barn. Now Faith has to investigate to help Mary find the mother of the baby and why she felt it necessary to give up her child.

This was a story that helps to remind people what this time of year is all about. The parallels between this Christmas story and the original Baby born in a manger are heart-warming. Mary's life is her goats and that's all she's ever wanted in life. When a baby is given over to her, she finds out maybe there is more to life then her little farm and Bed and Breakfast after all. The mother of the child is a down on her luck; a young woman who wants only for her baby to have a better life then she has. The ending to this story is sad in some ways, a balancing of fate in others, and happy as well. Readers will finish this tale with a warm fuzzy feeling that love is the reason for the season.

The third story in this collection, The Twelve Frogs of Christmas by Judi McCoy, is a funny one, and the one paranormal story in the collection. Here readers meet Claire St. Germaine and Dr. Hugh Burton. Claire is a young woman making a go at her own jewelry design business who has temporarily taken on an additional duty of rescuing men sent to her as frogs she has to kiss to break the spell. Hugh is a professor at a university, whose specialty happens to be... yes you guessed it... frogs! When a rare and nearly extinct species that Hugh happens to be researching is sent to Claire, sparks fly and love blossoms.

This is a funny story bound to get some giggles out of the most finicky of readers. Readers are kept in the dark for most of the story as to who is sending the frogs to Claire and why, though the answers to those questions are revealed by the end. Hugh and Claire are unique individuals, and both stubborn in their own ways. When they butt heads over some amusing circumstances, readers feel the sparks flying and just know they'll make an interesting pair.

The final story in this collection, The Thirteenth Santa, by Joanne Pence, introduces readers to Inspector Rebecca Mayfield with the SFPD, who is investigating a murder of a man in a Santa suit found at a local shopping mall. Richie Amalfi is on a mission to take 12 old men, decked out in Santa suits, to a destination only he knows, when his van with the Santas in it disappears. He goes to Rebecca for help and when she thinks this may be linked to her murder investigation, she tags along to help him track down the wayward men and gets more then she bargained for.

This is a funny story, in a dry sort of way, and will appeal to readers. Rebecca and Richie make an interesting pair of detectives as they try to find answers to her investigation and track down the missing Santas. When the Mafia is mixed in, it gets even more interesting. This reviewer enjoyed how the author took the players and made many of them out as caricatures of mobsters and their cronies. There was a sarcastic bend to many of the humorous occurrences in the story that is sure to bring about a few laughs.

If readers are looking for a different sort of Christmas season story, then this is one that isn't to be missed.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2004. All rights reserved.

TWO Wonderful romances.......2005-06-01

I wasn't crazy about the 2 mystery stories in this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed the romances. McCoy's 12 Frogs story was adorable, so creative I wished it had been a full-sized novel.

Not the light-hearted read you would expect............2005-05-05

I found this collection of stories rather dark and completely lacking in holiday cheer.

I'm sure mystery lovers would appreciate the plots and characters, but if you're looking for light-hearted, true meaning of Christmas, love is in the air type stories, than this book is definitely NOT for you.

Average customer rating:

CHILLING!

amusing Borders historical romance
Love and Mayhem (Signet Eclipse)
Nicole Cody
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451218108

Book Description

Arm yourself for the biggest wedding of the 16th century.

Sir Iain Armstrong is trying to wed Lady Marion, a convent-raised spitfire. All Iain wants to do is fulfill his father's wishes, appease two royal courts, and do what is best for the future of Scotland by putting an end to all the troubles in his part of the Borders. All Lady Marion has to do is agree to marry him, which is the last thing on her mind when Iain arrives at the convent. Until she realizes that Iain is a man of courage, intelligence, and seductively powerful shoulders. But now her eccentric family might do what she's already failed to do-drive him away forever.

Customer Reviews:

CHILLING!.......2006-06-06

This was such a good and romantic start. I started it in the middle of the night and i am soooo glad that i finished it during the day. The last part of the book sent chills up and down my spine.

amusing Borders historical romance .......2006-04-04

In 1513, war weary Sir Iain Armstrong heads home to the Scottish side of the Borders to insure his family at Blackthorn and that of his neighbor at Fleet Tower remain safe following the devastating loss to the English at Flodden Field that cost the lives of his father and his future father-in-law. He stops at Fleet Tower to move the McCall family to his holding for their safety and informs his fiancée Lady Marion that she will be sent to the Covent of Newabbey on the Isle of Skye. She asks him to marry her now, but he cannot because she is only six years old.

Twelve years later he sends for Marion so they can marry. She avoids him so he comes to Newabbey to get her. He explains her people need her as her cousin Jack Fitzwilliam is causing trouble by claiming she is dead, he is the heir and stealing from the poor. Iain says two monarchs want them wedded to bring security to the Borders. Marion begins to see her fiancé is courageous and caring even towards the downtrodden unlike Jack who she remembers from childhood was a nasty villain.

This amusing Borders historical romance stars a delightful cast of eccentrics who freshen up what is typically a graveyard serious sub-genre with their antics. The fun begins when a despondent exhausted Iain has no time to mourn the death of his father or comrades or even reflect on the battle defeat as Marion sets the tone when she tells him to marry her. At their next meeting she dumps a bowl of flour on her head and her excuses for avoiding him are classic. Throw in her zany family along with a tense normalizing subplot involving Fitzwilliam leading to a jocular sixteenth century tale.

Harriet Klausner

Working: Tales of life, love, mechanical mayhem ... and getting even!

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Working: Tales of life, love, mechanical mayhem ... and getting even!
Dan Holohan
Manufacturer: Dan Holohan Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006RUA5W

Average customer rating:

Love and Mayhem
Nick Taussig
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Love Lies Bleeding (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)

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Too "cute"
Love's Labours Won and Lost - my favorite Fen
Love's Labours Won and Lost
A well-written and humorous British cozy
Love's Labour's lie bleeding...

Love Lies Bleeding (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)
Edmund Crispin
Manufacturer: Felony & Mayhem
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1933397853

Product Description

Professor Gervase Fen is happy to step in when his old friend, the headmaster of the exclusive Castrevenford School, needs a guest speaker for the school's annual Speech Day. (Though the headmaster, it must be said, has his doubts as to whether Fen is "capable of the sustained hypocrisy which the occasion demands.") Fen's happiness, however, turns to positive glee when it becomes clear that his sleuthing skills are needed: Not only has a student at the local girls' school been trifled with in some unspecified, clearly fiendish fashion, but poison has been swiped from the chemistry department, and two, yes two teachers have been murdered! Too bad, of course, for the teachers, but for Fen it's a very good day indeed.

Customer Reviews:

Too "cute".......2007-08-02

Academic setting. Good plot. Well-drawn characters. Nice touches of humor. What's not to Like?

Well the hero, Gervase Fen, for one thing. He has the arrogant intellectually superior attitude of the early Ellery Queen -- "I'm so smart that I know the solution but I won't tell you, nayh, nayh, nayh" -- that puts himself and others in peril.

Also while the plot is good, it is so overly complex (it takes a 20 page next-to-last chapter for Fen to explain it all) that I found myself saying "Give me a break". Yes, Sherlock Holmes can get away with this kind of plot, but mere mortals should avoid them. Moreover, the two action scenes (in the woods and the car chase) do not work for me -- they are somewhat hackneyed and the overlaying of humor seems forced.

Love's Labours Won and Lost - my favorite Fen.......2001-06-08

"Love Lies Bleeding" (1948) is the fifth of the Professor Fen mysteries, falling between "Swan Song" (1947) and "Buried for Pleasure" (1948). It involves foul play at the Castrevenford School for Boys, the second of Crispin's mysteries to take place outside of Fen's usual haunts in Oxford.

From 1943 to 1945 the author, Bruce Montgomery a.k.a. Edmund Crispin worked as an assistant master at Schrewsbury School, and he attributes his "knowledge of the criminal in human nature" to this experience. I'm certain the fictional Castrevenford School and its inhabitants bear a close resemblance to Schrewsbury School and its inhabitants. In fact, my Penguin edition of "Love Lies Bleeding" does not include the usual disclaimer about 'work of fiction whose characters bear no resemblance, etc. etc...'

Hopefully, there weren't quite as many homicides at Schrewsbury.

One of my favorite characters in the Fen mysteries, the ancient and possibly senile Professor Wilkes, is missing from "Love Lies Bleeding." However at Castrevenford, Professor Wilkes has an eerie alter-ego in the ancient and possibly senile mixed Bloodhound, Mr. Merrythought. In fact, the dog almost steals the stage from Fen:

"'Good God,' said Fen in a muffled voice.

"The dog was a large, forbidding bloodhound, on whose aboriginal color and shape one or two other breeds had been more or less successfully superimposed. He stood just inside the doorway, unnervingly immobile, and fixed Fen with a malevolent and hypnotic stare....

"'He ought to be put away, really,' said the headmaster, regarding Mr. Merrythought with considerable distaste. 'The trouble is, you see, that he's liable to homicidal fits.'

"'Oh,' said Fen. 'Oh.'"

Mr. Merrythought turns out to be a hero, not a murderer although there are plenty of those to go around. Fen is invited to Castrevenford by his old friend the Headmaster, as a last-minute substitute to give out the prizes on Speech Day. By the time Fen arrives, a student from the nearby Castrevenford Girls' High School has gone missing. By the end of the day, two of the teachers at Castrevenford School for Boys are dead.

"Love Lies Bleeding" is less farcical than many of the Fen mysteries. The school setting and its characters are marvelously depicted, without the exaggeration that Crispin sometimes used in his other books. If it weren't for the murders, "Love Lies Bleeding" could be classified as a minor gem of an English pastoral. It's my favorite Fen.

Of course, no Fen mystery is complete without a thicket of literary allusions. If you are familiar with Wordsworth's poem, "Love lies bleeding," then you may be able to guess the fate of the missing schoolgirl:

"You call it, "Love lies bleeding,"--so you may,/ Though the red Flower, not prostrate, only droops,/ As we have seen it here from day to day,/ From month to month, life passing not away:/ A flower how rich in sadness!..." (William Wordsworth)

Love's Labours Won and Lost.......2001-05-30

Hopefully, there weren't quite as many homicides at Schrewsbury.

"'Good God,' said Fen in a muffled voice.

"'He ought to be put away, really,' said the headmaster, regarding Mr. Merrythought with considerable distaste. 'The trouble is, you see, that he's liable to homicidal fits.'

"'Oh,' said Fen. 'Oh.'"

"You call it, 'Love lies bleeding,'--so you may,/ Though the red Flower, not prostrate, only droops,/ As we have seen it here from day to day,/ From month to month, life passing not away:/ A flower how rich in sadness!..." (William Wordsworth)

A well-written and humorous British cozy.......2000-05-01

This is a literate British cozy that takes place in a school setting. The mystery begins with a missing schoolgirl, the murder of two faculty members, and a theft from the chemistry lab. Eccentric characters include the amateur detective, Oxford English professor Gervase Fen; a rustic innkeeper; a ponderously Johnsonian carpenter/lay preacher and his obsequious assistant; and an elderly bloodhound mix, Mr. Merrythought, an unlikely hero who saves the day. Well written, with a light touch, "Love Lies Bleeding" is full of literary allusions and plenty of humor. If you like Michael Innes' mysteries, there's a good chance you'll like Edmund Crispin's too.

Love's Labour's lie bleeding..........2000-04-10

"'Do you never read Matthew Arnold?' demanded Fen. 'Oxford is proverbially the home of lost corpses.'"

In this, the fifth Gervase Fen novel, Crispin has set a plot rife with intrigue and entertainment in a style which is inimitably his. Taut and clever, 'Love Lies Bleeding' revolves around events which begin at the Castrevenford Schools, separate boys and girls institutions where small disturbances have surprising ramifications.

Gervase Fen, the Oxford Professor of Language and Literature, who has been called in to speak for the schools' Speech Day by the Headmaster, an old university acquaintance, is soon in the thick of a mystery which grows deadlier as it becomes more inexplicable. Was young Brenda Boyce assaulted, and, if so, by whom? Who has broken into the chemistry laboratory, and what have they stolen? And what, if anything, is worth the risk of committing murder?

As Fen pursues the increasingly convoluted path toward the truth, he discovers that the motive behind these events may be one that is very old indeed, and a motive which he, in his professional capacity as a scholar, may understand better than anyone else involved.

The Gervase Fen detective novels are certainly among the best undiscovered treasures that many devotees of mystery fiction could hope to unearth. A perfect combination of suspense, humour, and intelligent dialogue, these tales are not to be missed.

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Love, Life, Mayhem
Evan Long
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1413477917

Average customer rating:

Kept me goin'!

WELL, WELL, WELL, deb (Whitesboro, NJ)

Thanks for the walk down memory lane

PHENOMENAL BOOK

Hats off Ms Pietropaoli!!!
Rainy Daze: Love, Lust...Mayhem and Murder
Anne Pietropaoli
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 141962234X
Release Date: 2006-03-03

Book Description

Rainy Scott gets an unexpected visit from the past when James Sampson appears at her door. The stroll down memory lane will not only resolve issues she's carried her whole life, but also take her seven states away and straight into the daze and chaos of a southern murder trial. Suddenly, Rainy's forced to define the ambiguous sporadic relationship she's always had with James. Everything she believes is tested as some questions persist: Does friendship ever really end? Is she capable of remaining loyal to a man who was her nemesis as a child and her lover as they grew older, even when all evidence points directly to him? Could this man, whom she's known her whole life, kill someone? She's always been loyal James, but how far is too far? Rainy slips unwillingly into the roller coaster ride of every emotion and wound she'd felt as a teenager and the nightmare she now faces as an adult. Struggling with an uphill battle, that even her closest friends don't understand, she wonders about James; how crazy was he? How much did she love him and does she love him still? And just as she thinks she's finally escaped lure of James Sampson, she is forced to face a murderer.

Customer Reviews:

Kept me goin'!.......2006-03-13

Very intriguing book. I wanted to keep reading it constantly to see what happened with the main characters. Very easy read, with a good story-line.

WELL, WELL, WELL, deb (Whitesboro, NJ).......2006-03-09

ALL I CAN SAY IS WELL, WELL, WELL.........IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT BY NOW YOU HAVE GOT TO GET IT.......!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the walk down memory lane.......2006-03-08

The thing I liked the most about this book is that it took me back to my own 'crew' from the neighborhood and school. I couldn't put it down. I called all my friends and told them to buy it. I like being able to figure things out before the end of the movie or book but this one even stumped me. I look forward to reading the next book Anne puts out so get to writing.

PHENOMENAL BOOK.......2006-03-08

I have to tell you honestly I don't read love story books, until this one. Rainy Daze is not the typical kind of love story.

It is a story of a young women's dedication and loyalty to a man that has captured her soul, but with the twist that will knock your socks off!!!

I was thoroughly impressed with Anne Pietropaoli's writing. It is a unique style that fully captured my attention and kept me reading striaght through until I was finished. Her attention to detail and the use of vivid memories left me wanting more. I was actually upset when I finished reading this book because I wanted the story to continue.

I hope that Anne is writing more because I will without-a-doubt, buy more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hats off Ms Pietropaoli!!!.......2006-03-08

Ms Pietropaoli helps to restore the meaning of friendship. Friendship that over the years has lost its meaning. Then by including a suspenseful storyline only enhances its value. Rainy's character is true to her own character. Hats off Ms Pietropaoli!!! Cant Wait for the next book.

Dorothy Dix ; Speaks!: Murders, mayhem and advice to the love lorn Housewife tricks and simple recipes for the novice gormet

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Dorothy Dix ; Speaks!: Murders, mayhem and advice to the love lorn Housewife tricks and simple recipes for the novice gormet
John McDonald
Manufacturer: Roxy Theatre
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006OYCWW

Average customer rating:

Love and Mayhem
Nicole Cody
Manufacturer: New American
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRQ7PE

Love is Murder : Murder Mayhem and Crimes of Passion, as if Live Isn't Tough Enough

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Love is Murder : Murder Mayhem and Crimes of Passion, as if Live Isn't Tough Enough
Rebecca ; Maureen Child and Linda Winstead Jones Brandewyne
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OXDIGG

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