Recapping my books from the last few months, there were some good ones!
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
This one seemed to be everywhere a few months ago and so I had to jump on that bandwagon. Although the author says it’s not, the main character is definitely inspired by Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neeleman, a trad wife influencer. She lives on a farm with her husband and several children, creating social media content about how they live - making all of their food from scratch, home schooling their children, raising livestock, being a good Christian wife, etc. The instagram posts don’t show the modern appliances hidden off camera, the nannies and producers that are helping out, and the marriage and behaviour issues. (Am I talking about Ballerina Farm or the novel? There is a lot of overlap.). Then one day the main character in the novel wakes up and she is in a house with no electricity or running water, none of the conveniences of modern day. It’s like “you wanted to emulate a life from the olden days, well, here you go!”. While she tries to figure out how she got here, we go back to the years leading up to this moment.
I don’t follow Ballerina Farm or any of the other trad wife accounts, but I am aware of them. As I am aware of many influencers that create so much content and can make a very good living doing so. I scroll on my phone and see all kinds of content so I’m contributing to it all, but I still don’t understand how it all works. We all want to put forward a good image of ourselves online, but when it doesn’t feel genuine, then I have a problem with it.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
This novel takes place on an extremely remote island off the coast of Australia. A man and his three children are the stewards of the island that had formerly been used for research and a seed vault (a collection of every kind of seed that could restart agriculture in the event of a catastrophic global disaster). Things have changed though and they are planning to leave the island in a few months. A storm brings something unexpected to the shore and that’s when we join the story.
I knew absolutely nothing about this book when I picked it up, so much I was confused about where in the world they were at first. There is a mystery in the book but it wasn’t predictable at all. It was unlike any books I have read recently and I really liked it.
The Chambermaid’s Key by Genevieve Graham
The story takes place in 1920s Toronto right after the Fairmont Royal York Hotel is built. It’s not called the Royal York in the book but that is the inspiration. The main character gets a job as a chambermaid, a good job for someone living in the Ward (a poor neighbourhood). She comes in contact with some mobsters. Then we skip ahead to present day where a young property inspector starts uncovering something fishy going on at the hotel, and finds some connections to the past.
I am a big fan of Ms. Graham’s books and they just keep getting better. I always appreciate the local Canadian settings and the Royal York is one of my favourite places in the city. This one kept me entertained and bonus, the cover is so pretty. I actually bought this book and then sent it to my mom to read.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
At the beginning of this book we meet a foster girl who has run away from her foster home. She has a plan to break into an art auction to see a famous painting. She is caught and runs away, running into the artist in the back alley. They start spray painting the alley and the artist recognizes that she has talent. After a few things happen, the girl finds herself with the artist’s childhood friend. She hears stories about the summer when that famous painting was painted and the adventures the friends had together. The book toggles between present and past.
Like most of Mr. Backman’s books an air of melancholy permeates the story. The moments between the friends are bittersweet, with a feeling that nothing is going to turn out, but interspersed with tender moments. I almost couldn’t get into it because I didn’t want to read a sad book, but there are enough lovely phrases and hope that kept me going and I ultimately liked it.
I should mention I also tried reading Wolf Hall after hearing it recommended by a few people, but I could just not get into it. I usually try to push through but this time decided to put it down.
