Archive for the ‘women's roles’ Tag
In Sara Blaedel’s The Midnight Witness, set in Copenhagen, the strangled body of a young woman is found in a park. Before long, a journalist investigating drug trafficking is discovered dead in a hotel alley. Questions soon arise: Could these cases be related but how?
Detective Louise Rick is initially assigned to the young woman’s case; later, she’s transferred to the second murder.
Blaedel’s writing is engaging thanks to well-crafted characters. Louise is smart and despite her expertise she’s often diminished because she’s a woman; nonetheless, she has worked her way through the ranks to become a detective. Her best friend Camilla Lind, a journalist investigating the same murders, is set on establishing a connection.
The author provides enough detail about the women’s lives without it overshadowing the who-dun-its. Both are single, although Louise is in a long-term relationship with a man who’s been offered a job in Scotland wanting her to join him. She’s confronted with the personal vs professional battle many women face. Camilla is earnest in her journalistic role, but also is often not taken seriously due to her gender. She’s motivated to prove otherwise.
As they pursue the cases in their respective roles their bond is strained. The tension between the two is palpable. Even as Louise becomes increasingly frustrated with her friend’s involvement she can’t help being concerned for Camilla’s safety.
A third murder victim not only amps up the police efforts, but also raises suspicions about possible leaks among everyone involved in the investigation.
The Midnight Witness
Almost four bookmarks
Grand Central Publishing, 2018
284 pages
In The Cape Doctor, E.J. Levy crafts a historical novel on the real life of a young
Irish girl who becomes a successful surgeon in the 1800s.
Much has been written, as evidenced in Levy’s acknowledgements about the
life of Margaret Anne Bulkley aka Dr. James Barry. Relying on facts about
him, Levy’s narrative portrays Margaret Brackley’s transformation to Dr.
Jonathan Perry as arduous and driven by necessity. Margaret’s family is
destitute; she can do little as a daughter.
The story moves from Cork, Ireland, to London; from Edinburgh to Cape
Town. As the settings change, so does Margaret. Thanks to a friend of her late
uncle, she is privately educated proving to be an excellent student. In order
to attend medical school, so that she may ultimately provide for her family,
she must live life as a man.
This, of course, is not without complications. Nonetheless, Perry earns a
medical degree, joins the army and is sent to Cape Town. This is where the
majority of the narrative occurs and the greatest threats to Perry’s true
identify arise.
Levy establishes intrigue through Perry’s friendship with Lord Somerton, the
Cape Town governor. Even as the doctor makes his name as a man of compassion
and skilled surgeon, rumors begin to surface the type of relationship shared by
the two men.
The fear of Perry’s exposure is engaging. Yet, the slow-moving pace isn’t captivating enough.
The Cape Doctor
Three Bookmarks
Little, Brown and Company, 2021
335 pages, includes acknowledgements
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams is an engaging novel about how the complete edition of the Oxford English Dictionary came to be. In addition to its development, perhaps more importantly, it addresses women’s roles in the achievement.
Along with the words that make it into the initial version is the vocabulary that the mostly male lexicographers overlooked – either by design or ignorance. Here’s where narrator Esme comes in. As a young child she spent most of her time under the table where her widowed father and his colleagues collected words for inclusion in the dictionary.
When not in the “Scriptorium,” Esme is in the nearby home of James Murray where housemaid Lizzie cares for the young girl. Despite class differences, theirs is a relationship that endures as Esme grows up and begins her own collection of words. She starts with some discarded by the men and later adds the vernacular of working class women she discovers with Lizzie’s help.
Williams’s novel is inspired by true events, but isn’t just historical. The story is brought to life by the vivid personalities of the main characters, but also lesser, nonetheless equally important, ones. While the dictionary is being compiled (a decades-long endeavor), the arduous battle of the women’s suffrage movement is underway (another lengthy process). The backdrop of societal mores, the Great War and personal relationships imbues the work with emotion.
Words and their meanings are significant but their power is reflected in how they’re used and by whom.
The Dictionary of Lost Words
Four Bookmarks
Ballentine Books, 2021
388 pages (includes epilogue, author’s notes, timeline and book group discussion questions)
Although beautifully written, Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King was initially frustrating. I was anxious to meet the title character. He isn’t introduced until more than halfway through the novel at which point it becomes difficult to put down.
A shadow king, it’s explained, is essentially a double, someone who can pass as the real thing. In this case, it’s a peasant who looks like the exiled emperor in war-torn Ethiopia. Yet, the narrative highlights the role of two women: Aster and her servant, Hirut, in the battle against the Italians.
Before the invasion, before the emperor vacates his country, Hirut arrives at the home of Aster and her husband, Kidane an officer in the emperor’s army. Newly orphaned, Hirut must learn to accept her role as a maid to Aster who is jealous of the younger woman.
In 1935, Mussolini’s army is ruthless in its assault leaving many dead and homeless in its wake. Kidane assembles a small band of soldiers, with the women serving as cooks and nurses, forced to hide in the hills to avoid capture or worse.
Among the Italians are a ruthless, sadistic officer and his assistant, Ettore, a photographer tasked with documenting the war to put Italy in the best possible light. He has a conscience; his superior does not.
Hirut and Aster want to do more than be supporting players. Their efforts reflect the power and strength of women in even the most dire circumstances, along, unfortunately, with the easy dismissal of their accomplishments.
The Shadow King
Four Bookmarks
W.W. Norton & Co., 2019
428 pages
The Blue Page Special 