Book Review - The Last Bird of Paradise

 

The Last Bird of Paradise
by Clifford Garstang
340 Pages, Black Rose Writing
Genre: Historical Fiction



Aislinn Givvens and Elizabeth Pennington are separated by a century but Singapore is what they have in common. One is a artist and the other is art lover who loves the other woman's paintings. Both have almost similar lives and views after they experience personal losses. Givvens lives in New York and in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks agrees to move with her husband Liam to Singapore leaving behind her career and identity just like Elizabeth almost a century before her who is packed off by her aunt just before the first world war from Britain to Singapore to live with her Uncle Cyril. Both are independent women but find themselves leaving for an unknown country and despite themselves fall in love with the multicultural East.

Zigzagging across New York, Britain, Singapore and Australia and across timelines that seem so different and yet so same, Garstang gives a quick lesson on Singapore history while making us wonder, when does a woman feel emancipation? It also examines the power politics in relationships between couples and between nations which was refreshing.

The writing is crisp with colourful multi-dimensional characters as he alternates between  the story of both women with ease. It was nice reading about the late Mr. Selvadurai even if it is fiction.

Apart from enjoying the book, I learnt a lot about Singapore history and was stunned there was a sepoy mutiny there too during World War 1 as the only Sepoy mutiny I knew of was Indian sepoy mutiny of 1857.

This book is highly recommended as not many write about the city-state of Singapore or the wonderful people and almost too disciplined government that borders on fascism there.

Do buy it and read it here  ====  AMAZON

Where David Threw Stones - book review

 

Where David Threw Stones
by
Elyse Hoffman
Genre : Mixture of Historical fiction, Fantasy and Mystery.

"Sweet kids raised on poison grow into twisted bastards" - Where David Threw Stones


When I picked up the book to read, I thought the novel would be something about a boy named David and the German Goliath - Hitler and Nazis and how they were brought down in WW2. The author Elyse Hoffman proved me wrong as the story begins in 1968 when a kid named David Saidel blames himself for his parents' death even though they are killed by neo-nazis in Munich. The child is sent to Brennenbach to live with his maternal grandfather. David becomes the child who refuses to smile and then you are introduced to fantasy and history as the town reverts back to Hitler's Germany of 1943 at the stroke of midnight and  stays that way before changing over to 1968 during the day.

David is warned not to step out during midnight but he does anyway one day when he loses his grandfather's dog Mozart. What he faces during the hours is part of the mystery and what a mystery it is. So does David learn about himself and does the curse on Brennenbach ever end? Read the book to find out.

The writing style is crisp, the pace is fast and the book is a page turner. This is a fascinating mix of historical fiction, fantasy and mystery, meshed together and told in a riveting, heart wrenching and unique style which I never thought was possible. The author manages to zip through genres with the ease of a magician while keeping the reader glued to the pages.

As I read it, two things struck me about this book. It is very relevant for the world today where hate as an ideology is being spread against some "other" and there is a generation growing up only knowing hate and frankly it scares me as it is becoming the new normal. The second is for the forgotten genocides in other parts of the world like the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka in 2009 when over 300,000 people were killed in a week using cluster bombs and other banned weapons provided by 21 countries which either directly or indirectly participated with the Sri Lankan Army in the genocide irrespective of their ideologies - both sides of the Cold War bloc. Even today people in Lanka are yet to reconcile and the simmering hatred is still justified in the name of a falsified history and superiority provided by militant Buddhist monks and Sinhalese majority that is taught to children and the people stay silent because they fear speaking up or speaking out.

Everyone should read this book - doesn't matter if you are from the west or east, north, south, majority or minority in any part of the world. I hope this book changes the way you think about your own race, religion, language, identity and about "others" and helps you speak up and speak out. Never forget where and to whom you are born is just an accident of birth.

Buy the book on Amazon

Book Review : The Whispering Women #Book 1 of A Delafield and Malloy Investigation

 

The Whispering Women

by

Trish MacEnulty

‎387 pages, Prism Light Press

Genre : Historical Fiction

 

Is it insane for women to expect respect, dignity and equality in today’s world? After the failure of Roe vs. Wade, it is worrisome when a story set over a hundred years ago in New York sounds timely and relevant today even though it is said to be historical fiction. Whispering Women is set in 1913, which is 110 years ago addresses the women’s rights under attack today: abortion, contraception, equality in wages, the right to vote, etc in today’s USA. 

 The author uses the characters of Louisa Delafield and Ellen Malloy to tell a story of why women in the USA decided to seek these rights and what were the underlying causes to do so especially the right to vote and use contraception instead of dying an early death especially by women who were raped by men of high society. As I read the novel, I was reminded of HBO’s The Gilded Age.

Louisa belongs to the old money high society elite whose dead father has managed to destroy their inheritance. She is scraping by as a society column writer and is told to expand as the readers are bored with dresses, debutantes and designers. She decides to write a crime column. The other protagonist is Ellen, an Irish immigrant who works as a lady’s maid and witnesses her friend and fellow servant Silvia die due to an illegal abortion conducted by a high society doctor. Ellen manages to escape and this how Louisa and Ellen meet. While Louisa offers Ellen protection, Ellen collects information to help Louisa connect the dots in a police matron’s murder and thus solve the crime of her own friend’s murder.

Trish MacEnulty creates a rich world and interesting characters. Well researched, the writing style is crisp and easily moves from ballrooms to brothels with a pace that would make the readers glued to the book. The notion of capitalism and the use of gangs of New York makes one shudder with anger. But that is what it is all about, isn’t it? Certain things in particular are emphasized, especially how, even though Silvia’s pregnancy was forced upon her, she would have been the one punished for ending it and dies along with her immigrant dreams. The men face no consequences, even when it is them who are the cause of the problem. It is always about power, isn’t it?  If you wish to read a book on white slavery, this would be it.

What Louisa writes about in her column are still issues which over a century later, still remain issues and such parallels show just how important these things are in society now and bursts our notions of women’s equality today as opposed to a barbaric, class filled past where women’s lives didn’t matter, especially those of women without money.

If you like historical fiction and mysteries, this is just the book for you.

You can buy it on Amazon.