OVERVIEW: Recent reading

[feather_ghyll]

Murder on the Flying Scotsman: Carola Dunn

My favourite aspect of this story was Daisy’s relationship with Belinda, the latter being a dear as you’d expect of Alec’s daughter. Belinda discovers the dead body, which is probably the most gripping moment in the book as it’s not a thing you’d wish on any child. There are plenty of suspects, although my suspicions narrowed in line with the way Daisy’s did; it was involving enough. Our heroes battle racism in this one. Sadly, nobody appeared to have carefully line edited the whole book, i.e. looking out for missing capital letters and punctuation marks.

The Greater Covenant: May Wynne

My main reaction, a few chapters in, was shock. I didn’t expect this book from May Wynne (here’s http://feather-ghyll.livejournal.com/tag/may%20wynne, and the books I’ve written about previously are early school stories and Colonial family members shaking up lives. But this is (an attempt at) a historical novel. Although the plotting is often ridiculous, there’s a decent stab at conveying the politics, tensions and beliefs of the era in a book that is aimed at the older juvenile market, or if not aimed at it, aware that they'd be among the readers. Set after the execution of Charles I, it’s interested in the spiritual awakening of three young people as an itinerant preacher comes to a Scottish fishing village. It’s also interested in the romances between the quartet, with a stern, narrow-minded Royalist father causing all kinds of heartache.

Sally Baxter and the Golden Yacht: Sylvia Edwards

Oh dear. The Golden Yacht of the title is The Sunflower, an Italian millionaire’s yacht that Sally is staying on as part of her assignment to write about the life of his daughter Marcia, seventeen, but recently engaged to a man a decade older. The most interesting part of the silly adventures (or scoops for Sally) that ensue is the attitude towards the pampered rich and the life that they live. Humble Sally is grateful to the Evening Cry for giving her such interesting experiences, fights against getting too used to luxury and respects and admires some Welsh students who have worked their way to getting a rickety boat that will carry them on their holiday. (The Jackie promptly sinks in a storm.) Being so poor that you have to DIY is promoted (although Sally gets nice frocks off her expense account.)

The Cornish Affair: Liz Fenwick (not Jensen as I incorrectly posted originaly)

I didn’t know that they produced romantic suspense novels like this still. Add modern technology, spread sad and complicated family backstories around more widely and heat the whole a degree or two warmer, but this is still a story about half-American Jude coming to the Cornish estate Pengarrock to sort out a garden historian/estate owner’s library, falling in love with the place and becoming determined to solve a generations-old mystery to ensure Pengarrock’s survival. There’s a sensible housekeeper, a godmother and a yummy if prickly son of the house. If, like me, you enjoy that kind of thing, you will enjoy this book. My one big complaint was that a lot of the jumping from scene to scene gave me whiplash (perhaps the influence of TV?).