Archive for August 2022
Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez is beautifully written with tough themes portrayed with a disarming touch. Abandonment, betrayal, family secrets, relationships, rebellion and politics are among the many themes throughout this debut work.
Olga and her older brother, Prieto, were abandoned by their mother, a revolutionary for Puerto Rico’s independence. The children were raised in Brooklyn by their father, a former activist, before dying from AIDs, the result of his heroin addiction. Relatives, especially their grandmother, took charge. Despite this rocky upbringing, Olga and Prieto are seemingly successful adults. She’s a wedding planner and he’s a congressman.
Although their mother never returns to see them, she is aware of their lives as proven in the sporadic letters written to Olga. The letters, sent from 1990 to 2016, are like harsh lectures about Puerto Rico’s history.
The narrative begins in July 2017 leading to before and after the devastating hurricanes that struck the island. Olga’s life is filled with her business, her relationships with her family, clients and a new romance. Prieto is a popular politician in his Brooklyn community, although Olga and others soon wonder about his recent voting record.
The characters are vibrant and the settings, Brooklyn and Puerto Rico, are vivid. Olga is a likeable. She credibly weathers her personal storms. Her circumstances, and her family’s, may be different than those of many readers. Yet, Gonzalez makes them relatable.
Olga’s mother is harsh in denouncements of the status quo. Although her methods are questionable, her cause isn’t.
Olga Dies Dreaming
Four+ Bookmarks
Flat Iron Books, 2021
373 pages
The idea of pairing an older Sherlock Holmes with a young woman as a crime-solving duo is, well, elementary!
Laurie R. King has done just that in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, set many years after Holmes has retired to Sussex Downs, near the sea and far from London. There, he has mostly settled into life keeping bees and taking on the occasional case.
One day on a walk, he encounters 15-year-old Mary Russell, a bright girl, whose intellect captures his attention. The two begin a friendship based on mental acuity, powers of observation, science, deduction and a flair for the audacious.
There’s little mention of Dr. Watson, but Mrs. Hudson continues as Holmes’s housekeeper – and Mary’s surrogate caregiver. (Mary is an orphan left in the care of a cold, ill-disposed aunt.)
Through the years, Mary’s education is augmented by her time spent with Holmes. Even after she leaves for Oxford, they remain in touch. It comes as no surprise when they work together to solve, at first minor crimes, before being thrown into webs of deceit and danger not unlike those once constructed by Holmes’ arch enemy, the now-deceased Moriarty.
Her intelligence, thirst for knowledge and appreciation of Holmes make Mary a likeable character. She understands him without being intimidated.
King injects humor and warmth into her writing and provides a different perspective of Holmes thanks to the strong, female character she has created in Mary. The thrill of the chase is evident in the way Holmes and Mary work together.
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
Four Bookmarks
Laurie R. King
Bantam Books, 1996
405 pages
Rae Katherine Eighmey unites history with cooking in Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln’s Life and Times. The author chronologically describes Lincoln’s life based on locale, the people he frequently interacted with and the foods he most likely ate. There are only a few actual accounts of meals and menus, so Eighmey relies on cookbooks from Lincoln’s era and references made in letters to, from or about the Lincoln family.
This is not especially engaging, as cookbooks go, but it does have some interesting elements which should especially appeal to history buffs. Eighmey includes 55 recipes, which she has “updated for the modern kitchen.” Some are basic such as Roast Turkey with only butter and flour as added ingredients to the bird. Others are more complicated, including December Sausages. Consider recipes such as cucumber catsup (also a recipe for tomato ketchup; the spelling changes as do the ingredients).
Several interesting recipes like nutmeg donuts and almond pound cake do tempt the palate, though. Surprisingly, the latter calls for ½ cup of white wine, something I’d not previously considered for a cake. Wine is also part of the Apees recipe, which is a blend of a digestive cookie and cracker.
Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln’s Life and Times
Three bookmarks
Smithsonian Book, 2013
270 pages, including Notes, Bibliography and Index
The Blue Page Special 