The House At Tyneford

"The start of an affair, the end of an era." This cover alone would make me pick up Natasha Solomons', The House at Tyneford.* Allow me to list the reasons I decided to read it: set in an English village on the Dorset Coast at the beginning of WWII; inspired by the author's own great aunt; Elizabethan manor house of Tyneford and the village based on the real ghost village of Tyneham.
Now, a reason why I almost didn't read it - I have a real problem reading any books about the Holocaust - possibly due to learning the story of Anne Frank at such an impressionable age - but probably because reading about the atrocities done to the Jewish people are more than I can handle thinking about. Fortunately for my sensibilities, Ms. Solomons manages to relate the bad parts of her tale in a palpable way.
Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau, her sister Margot and their parents, opera star Anna and author Julian, are living in Vienna in 1938. The world is changing; war is coming; it is no longer safe to be a Jew in Austria. Margot leaves for America with her husband Robert who has a job in California. Anna and Julian are waiting for their exit visas. In order to get Elise to safety, her parents make her place a "Refugee Advertisement" in the London Times. It is answered by the housekeeper at Tyneford. She will leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlour maid in England.
Even though there are parts of the book where you can see ahead and just know what is going to happen, the unfolding of the story, the beautiful descriptions of the English coast and the personalities of all the characters make it such a pleasure to read. I put it on a par with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is one of those books I want to add to my own library which says a lot as I try not to buy quite so many books any more. Now if I can just find a copy of the author's Mr. Rosenblum's Open Garden!
*(Note: This book was published as The Novel in the Viola in the UK. Be sure to follow the instructions in the Acknowledgments at the front of the book and listen to the musical score at the end of the book.)

I picked up Anne Tyler's latest, The Beginner's Goodbye off the 'new books' shelves at the library and looked at it a couple of times - each time deciding I wasn't in the mood to read a book about how a man copes with the death of his wife. Then I read Tyler's Back When We Were Grownups which reminded me how much I enjoyed her way of writing about ordinary people.
The Beginner's Goodbye is Tyler's nineteenth novel. "A beautiful, subtle exploration of loss and recovery, pierced throughout with Anne Tyler's humor, wisdom, and always penetrating look at human foibles." I should not have been so resistant to reading this novel. It is just as entertaining as all the books of hers that I have read. Perhaps it is time for me to go back and read her 1988 Pulitzer Prize winner, Breathing Lessons. I'm sure there's much I've forgotten about the couple who have been married for 28 years (and this year will be our 27th).

Victoria Thompson's twelfth 'Gaslight Mystery', Murder on Lexington Avenue, addresses the subject of deafness - a minor story line in all these books as the young son of one of the main characters, Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, is deaf. As always, the author's research into deafness at the turn of the century informs her novel as well as her readers - interesting that Alexander Graham Bell dedicated a great portion of his life and fortune to advance the teaching of speech (lip) reading and speaking which nearly eliminated the teaching of American Sign Language.
Even though I was right about the identity of the murderer because I cleverly picked up the clue about "reading it in the newspaper this morning", the ending still held a surprise for me.

And now, with the completion of Thompson's 13th Gaslight Mystery, Murder on Sisters' Row, I'm caught up with all the books in the series. There is another one in print which our library does not yet have, so I'll have to wait awhile to find out how the relationship between Mrs. Brandt and Malloy is developing as they undoubtedly solve yet another murder.
Once again Ms. Thompson's research into life in New York in the 1890's led to her idea for this story about the New York Charity Organization Society. I don't know how relevant learning about something that happened more than one hundred years ago is to my life today, but I really enjoy reading about that period in time and the mysteries are always interesting.
Now, back to the library to see what comes home with me this time.