Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Nevermore: Gilded Mountain, Marjorie Post, Lady Sherlock, Simplicity Parenting

 

Reported by Garry 

Gilded Mountain by Kate Manning. Set in Moonstone, Colorado at the turn of the 20th century, the story is told through the eyes of Sylvie Pelletier, a worker in the manor house owned by the Padgetts, the wealthy owners of the local marble mine. The Padgetts use harsh labor practices to enrich themselves while treating their employees as replaceable slaves. Sylvie becomes involved with the local newspaper and when tragedy strikes in the middle of a difficult winter, she must face the choice of keeping silent or extracting revenge.  NH

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki. This historical novel highlights the life and times of Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post Cereal fortune. Post was an incredibly astute and successful businesswoman, in a time when they were a rarity. In fact, she was a multi-millionaire before she was 30 years old, and was once the richest woman in America. Post’s father was C. W. Post, who essentially invented the food we know today as breakfast cereals. Marjorie inherited the company from C.W. and turned it into General Foods, the international powerhouse that we know today. Married four times, once to the Ambassador to Russia, Marjorie’s world was one of glamor, philanthropy, and politics. She amassed so many jewels and diamonds from all over the world that she once quipped that she had better jewels than the British royal family. Our reader grew up in Washington, DC just a few blocks from the Post’s house which figures prominently in this book, and was amazed to learn the deeper history of its famous owner.  MH

The Lady Sherlock historical mysteries by Sherry Thomas is a series of (soon to be seven) books in which Charlotte Holmes, a brilliant, driven, rule-breaking young lady poses as Sherlock Holmes. Quite happy to use the fact that women are considered inferior in Victorian society to her full advantage, Charlotte uses her “invisibility” and “frailty” to work her way into situations that would be much more dangerous and difficult if she were a man, and in doing so accesses critical information about the cases that she is investigating. Our reader tackled books five and six in the series: Murder on Cold Street, and Miss Moriarty, I Presume?, and thoroughly enjoyed this gender-flipped take on the classic Sherlock Holmes stories.  SC 

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne. Here’s a genre we don’t usually have at Nevermore:  Parenting! This book, aimed at the parents of toddlers up to teenagers, encourages parents to reduce the number of sensory distractions in their children’s lives – remove TVs, pare down the number of toys, have reliable daily rhythms (meals at the same time every day is one example), encourage open-ended and child-driven play over the use of mass manufactured toys, etc. Our reader (who has small children) found that there was a lot of very useful information in this book, and that it was presented in an accessible, logical and supportive fashion.  HM 

 

Also mentioned:

Emily’s House by Amy Belding Brown

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

Walking to Wijiji by Bunny Medeiros

At Weddings and Wakes by Alice McDermott

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

James Acaster’s Classic Scrapes by James Acaster

Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and other Diversions by Steve Martin

A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley

Polar Exposure: An All-Women’s Expedition to the North Pole by Felicity Aston

Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers by Emma Smith

The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family by Kerri K. Greenidge

The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder by Edward Humes

Christmas at the Cat Café by Melissa Daley

Shattered by James Patterson and James O. Born

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