Saturday 25 February 2017

Weltanschauung by Vikki Patis


Weltanschauung by Vikki Patis
Self published in November 2016.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the ebook from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the author

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The harbinger, the oddball, the remaining twin… Weltanschauung seeks to open your eyes to different stories, set in different worlds and at different times, but with the same theme in mind: to make you question your worldview. This collection of short stories traverses genres, introduces a variety of characters, and shines a light on some of our deepest fears. Challenge your perceptions.

Despite its German language title - meaning worldview - this collection of five short stories is firmly rooted in English culture. I liked that several of the offerings are set in the West Country, not so far from my Devon home! Patis explores dark themes, putting her mostly very ordinary characters into extraordinary situations where their mental health and resilience are severely tested. She is not constrained by any specific genre so the tales encompass horror, thriller and dystopian science fiction, all with a chilling psychological aspect that I particularly enjoyed.

I think my favourites are Only If and Grave Oversight. Only If introduces us to a teenage girl who is failing to cope with the death of her twin the previous year. I understood early where the story might be heading and the writing is as compelling as an inevitable accident. Despite willing a change of course to occur, the fates are resolutely set on their path to its heart rending conclusion. Grave Oversight, by contrast, does not reveal its truth until its very last moments and I really should not have read this story so close to bedtime! The final story, Bane, was the only one in which I was a little disappointed because I felt it warranted being a longer and more detailed piece. Otherwise I think Weltanschauung is a strong collection of unexpected and thoughtful stories.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Vikki Patis / Short stories / Books from England

Thursday 23 February 2017

Moon In A Dead Eye by Pascal Garnier


Moon in a Dead Eye by Pascal Garnier
First published by Zulma in French in France in 2009. English language translation by Emily Boyce published by Gallic Books in July 2013.

Where to buy this book:
Buy the ebook from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from Speedyhen
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository
Buy the paperback from Waterstones

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publishers via NetGalley.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Given the choice, Martial would not have moved to Les Conviviales. But Odette loved the idea of a brand-new retirement village in the south of France. So that was that. At first it feels like a terrible mistake: they're the only residents and it's raining non-stop. Then three neighbours arrive, the sun comes out, and life becomes far more interesting and agreeable. Until, that is, some gypsies set up camp just outside their gated community.

My first Pascal Garnier novel, The Panda Theory, was absolutely brilliant and I hoped for a similarly wonderful read again. Moon In A Dead Eye starts out well. Retired couple Martial and Odette have given up their suburban Parisian home for a newly-built house in a retirement complex in the sunny south of France. They are looking forward to making new friends through the promised social activities and lazing by the pool. Except the pool hasn't been filled yet, no one else has arrived and the rain is constant. Garnier sets up this scenario perfectly and his practically empty complex reminded me of the estate of unsold houses in The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan.

Eventually more people do move in - another couple and a single woman. Garnier understands his characters well and I enjoyed reading their interactions. Social club organiser Nadine is fun and there is definitely something a bit weird about the caretaker! For me, Moon In A Dead Eye was great up until this point. Then, when gypsies parking up nearby causes increased worry and paranoia amongst the residents, I thought that too many events happened too swiftly with the result being unbelievable and farcical. Perhaps a slower reveal in a longer book would be more convincing, or a stage adaptation as a real farce, but within the confines of this novella I thought it all too over the top.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Pascal Garnier / Crime fiction / Books from France

Tuesday 21 February 2017

The Question Of Red by Laksmi Pamuntjak


The Question Of Red by Laksmi Pamuntjak
First published as Amba by Gramedia Pustaka Utama in Indonesian in Indonesia in 2013. English language translation by the author published by AmazonCrossing in July 2016.

One of my WorldReads From Indonesia


How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publishers via NetGalley.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In this sweeping saga of love, loss, revolution, and the resilience of the human spirit, Amba must find the courage to forge her own path.
Amba was named after a tragic figure in Indonesian mythology, and she spends her lifetime trying to invent a story she can call her own. When she meets two suitors who fit perfectly into her namesake’s myth, Amba cannot help but feel that fate is teasing her. Salwa, respectful to a fault, pledges to honor and protect Amba, no matter what. Bhisma, a sophisticated, European-trained doctor, offers her sensual pleasures and a world of ideas. But military coups and religious disputes make 1960s Indonesia a place of uncertainty, and the chaos strengthens Amba’s pursuit of freedom. The more Amba does to claim her own story, the better she understands her inextricable bonds to history, myth, and love.

Pamuntjak begins her novel with a brief recounting of the Hindu myth of Amba, Salwa and Bhishmo, a love triangle that doesn't end well for anyone. We learn that Indonesian culture believes a child's name will have a strong influence over their life, fate if you will, so Amba's father's decision to give her this name is seen as tempting fate even though he intends that she should rise above her destiny. Amba herself however, apart from one brave stand in her youth, gets very little say in her future and this is what I found most exasperating about the book. She is perpetually defined and defines herself by her relationship to the man in her life at the time, and each of the men fulfilling this role is apparently obliged to fall in love with her solely because of her beauty.

I thought it a shame that the historical aspect of the novel is obscured by so much of this waffle as this era of civil war seemed to me to be far more interesting. I was reminded of George Orwell's Homage To Catalonia by the profusion and confusion of political groups and acronyms. Bhisma's letters, while being a weird literary device, grouped together as they are, provide fascinating insights into the lives of alleged communist political prisoners exiled from Indonesian society and I would have loved to have learned more about this. How did they live and what would it have felt like to be in a family also exiled as a reward to a 'well-behaved' prisoner? I would have preferred The Question Of Red to have been more of a deep historical novel with much less emphasis given to Amba's romantic vacillations and petty jealousies.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Laksmi Pamuntjak / Historical fiction / Books from Indonesia

Monday 20 February 2017

Dan's Narrowboat Life by Daniel Mark Brown


Dan's Narrowboat Life by Daniel Mark Brown
Self published in January 2015.

Where to buy this book:
Buy the ebook from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

How I got this book:
Bought the ebook from Amazon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Dan's Narrowboat Life, boat dwelling author, Dan Brown, takes us on a journey down the scenic, rural canals of Shropshire, and through one calendar year of his life afloat.
A quick read, Dan keeps his writing focused on life on his narrowboat Tilly, filling the book with insights as to why a life on the canal has Dan hooked. From calm days spent in the perfect countryside environment, ever changing with his location, to unexpectedly having to walk his boat a few feet down the canal at three in the morning. This book highlights some of Dan's best (...and worst) moments afloat.
Written with the friendly, conversational style that has led over 100,000 people to take a peek into Dan's world online each month. Dan's Narrowboat Life captures the essence of a young man trying to live a simple, active life in the greenery and scenery surrounding his floating home.


This second volume of Dan's narrowboating memoirs again does a good job of portraying just how beautiful and serene the British countryside is around the Llangollen canal along the Welsh borders. I would be interested to know how many people have been influenced to visit the region through reading his books or viewing his YouTube videos! I again was drawn to the solitude and tranquillity of his chosen lifestyle, especially the opportunities for walking and cycling in such a natural environment. I wasn't so gripped this time around as I was when reading The Narrowboat Lad though. I think Dan's Narrowboat Life, framed as it is by a calendar year, misses the strong sense of purpose that was a compelling part of the former book. Dan's anecdotes are entertaining in themselves, but I would have appreciated more narrative in place of so much gentle rambling.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Daniel Mark Brown / Biography and memoir / Books from England

Thursday 16 February 2017

The Fashion In Shrouds by Margery Allingham


The Fashion In Shrouds by Margery Allingham
First published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd in 1938.
This is my 1930s read for the BookCrossing-Goodreads Decade Challenge 2016-17.
I registered my copy of this book on BookCrossing

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the ebook from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository
Buy the paperback from Waterstones

How I got this book:
Swapped at South Lytchett Campsite book exchange

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First, there is a skeleton in a dinner jacket. Then a corpse in a golden aeroplane. After another body, private detective Albert Campion nearly makes a fourth... Both the skeleton and the corpse have died with suspicious convenience for Georgia Wells, a monstrous but charming actress with a raffish entourage. Georgia's best friend just happens to be Valentine, a top couturière and Campion's sister. In order to protect Valentine, Campion must unravel a story of blackmail and ruthless murder.

Several hours after completing The Fashion In Shrouds I am still baffled by what I really think of the book. On the one hand it is a perfectly competent murder mystery set in in upper class 1930s London. Amateur sleuth Campion is suitably snobbish, the characters are all either High Society or Commoners and we can easily tell the difference by the cringe-worthy accents of the latter. With his discovery of a suspicious suicide on his mind, Campion undertakes his own investigation into what happened and his winding path to the denouement is nicely done and satisfying. It is interesting that the priority is frequently not actually the unveiling of a murderer, but the prevention of scandal. Under no account must anything be revealed to Journalists!

What I struggled with though is Allingham's ambiguous attitude to her female characters. Four are wonderfully successful in their chosen careers - Georgia, an actress; Val, a couturier; Lady Papendeik, Val's employer; and Amanda, an aircraft engineer. For so many such independent and influential women to appear in a single 1930s novel could have led me to trumpet this as another of my Feminist February book reviews. However the non-stop barrage of viciously misogynistic statements, from male and female characters alike, put paid to that within the first few pages and I kept reading mostly in disbelief. Women are silly and hysterical; Campion repeatedly dismisses Amanda's logical deductions as just female luck in jumping to conclusions and, my own favourite, consoles his sister Val over her stolen boyfriend by saying 'This is damned silly introspective rot. What you need, my girl, is a good cry or a nice rape.' This is a brother talking to his sister! All through this book I couldn't decide whether Allingham actually meant to be derogatory or satirical? The chauvinism is so heavy handed, even by 1930s standards, that it frequently jarred, especially in contrast to the obvious talents and business acumen of the women being undermined.

The icing on the cake though, and I feel it is appropriate to recount so near to Valentine's Day, is this romantic marriage proposal:
Will you marry me and give up to me your independence, the enthusiasm which you give your career, your time and your thought? I realise that I've made a fine old exhibition of myself with Georgia Wells, which has hardly enhanced my immediate value in the market, but I can't honestly say I regret the experience. However that is the offer...In return, mind you (I consider it an obligation), I should assume full responsibility for you. I would pay your bills to any amount which my income might afford. I would make all the decisions which were not directly your province, although on the other hand I would like to feel I might discuss everything with you if I wanted to; but only because I wanted to, mind you; not as your right. And until I died you would be the only woman. You would be my care, my mate as in plumber, my possession if you like. If you wanted your own way in everything you'd have to cheat it out of me...It means the other half of my life to me, but the whole of yours.

The Fashion In Shrouds was written almost eighty years ago and I for one am so very grateful for every minute of feminist advance in those years!


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Margery Allingham / Crime fiction / Books from England

Monday 13 February 2017

The Good Dictator by Goncalo J Nunes Dias + #FreeBook


The Good Dictator by Goncalo J Nunes Dias
Self published in Portuguese as O Bom Ditador in November 2016. English language translation by Ethan Mortimore.

One of my WorldReads from Portugal

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the author

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An unidentified object parked on the moon - and no one seems to know where it came from. Gustavo, a middle-aged computer programmer with a comfortable and grey life, decides to make a list of what he would need to survive a hypothetical attack. He becomes obsessed with the list, spends a fortune, robs a drugstore: his own family thinks he is going insane. However, after the attack, it’s the insane who are well prepared for a new era in society.

Dystopian fiction is experiencing a rush of popularity in the wake of Brexit and Trump so I think The Good Dictator is a particularly well-timed read and scarily prescient in many of its scenes. Set in Portugal, the novel offers a European view of pre- and post-apocalyptic society which is interestingly different from similarly themed American offerings. It is very much an indie novel so there are problems with pacing and excessive irrelevant backstory information, but if you can see past these issues and aren't put off by the slow build of the first quarter, this is definitely a thought-provoking read.

Global civilisation's collapse is prompted by an alien attack from the moon, however this aspect of Dias' tale is almost incidental as he concentrates on the actions of his human protagonists on Earth. A few rural Portuguese communities are among the surviving 15% of human life and they must decide what aspects of their previous existence are important enough to maintain or recreate and what should be consigned to history. It's a fascinating premise. What ideology would you live by? What social structures are truly essential? Who would lead and how would you choose them?

I liked the ambiguity of Dias' title which becomes more compelling a question as the story progresses. Perhaps our prepared 'hero' Gustavo is the right choice of leader initially (perhaps not), but absolute power corrupts absolutely and I found myself wondering whether the Good Dictator is intended as a description of his benevolence to the people relying on him or an indication of his success in remaining in charge!

Dias doesn't go into much detail of how this society's new infrastructure is built up so this isn't the type of novel that will teach readers how to wire a solar panel or hoe a vegetable patch. I did get a good sense of this part of Portugal though and, having visited thereabouts three years ago, could recognise aspects of the landscape and strong community ties. Characters other than Gustavo aren't really developed fully enough for me although this book is intended as the first of a trilogy so perhaps they will become so later. Women especially are portrayed mostly as just providers of meals or sex and there is no real ethnic diversity other than a gypsy community. (At one point you could replace the word gypsy with Muslim though and this book becomes shockingly real!). The new society is still disappointingly patriarchal, but there are strong theories and arguments about financial, political and ecological philosophies which struck a chord with me. The Good Dictator is definitely a book for right now.


Etsy Find!
by Ana Bagayan in
California, USA

Click pic to visit Etsy Shop


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Goncalo J Nunes Dias / Science fiction / Books from Portugal

Saturday 11 February 2017

Revenge Of The Mantis by Vered Ehsani


Revenge Of The Mantis by Vered Ehsani
Self-published in June 2015.

This is my fourth book for the See Orange Feminist February Challenge.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the ebook from from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the ebook from from Smashwords
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:
Bought the ebook from Smashwords

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'Revenge is best served with tea.
All is proceeding as it should for Beatrice Knight. That is, until the African Lightning God lands in her barn and announces that Mrs. Knight’s arch nemesis is about to pay an unsolicited visit. This time, the giant Praying Mantis Koki won’t be so easily dissuaded from exacting revenge against the intrepid paranormal investigator. Mrs. Knight must now answer one critical question: what, or whom, is she prepared to sacrifice in order to defeat the Mantis? As if that isn’t heart-wrenching enough, Mr. Timmons boldly presents a possibility too terrible to consider, yet too tempting to refuse. Now, if only she could survive long enough to make a decision…
Revenge of the Mantis is the third case in “Society for Paranormals”, in which a paranormal detective refuses to let danger, death and unwanted suitors inconvenience her in colonial Kenya. Welcome to a cozy mystery series concerning Victorian etiquette, African mythology and the search for a perfect spot of tea. If you enjoy historical mysteries, adore Victorian steampunk, appreciate British humor, or would love to experience adventure in colonial Africa, download Revenge of the Mantis to start your supernatural safari now.
'

Vered Ehsani's Society For Paranormals series goes from strength to strength! This third adventure is my favourite yet for several reasons, not least of which is the wonderfully no-nonsense Victorian character of Mrs Beatrice Knight. She is a clever portrayal of a very English woman, juxtaposed against fantastical scenes of early 1900s Nairobi and African legend which accentuates the often ridiculous social niceties she is expected to both observe and endure. This particular story is fantasy without any steampunk inventions but has a strong sense of colonial Africa in its style and attitudes.

Ehsani orchestrates an interesting cast of paranormal creatures in this novel as well as allowing us to learn more about Beatrice's past and her family. There is excellent description of creatures and landscapes, and I thought the pacing in Revenge Of The Mantis was spot on throughout the book. I love that we get to meet Anansi The Spider, having so recently encountered him completely differently styled in Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. Plus, the giant Praying Mantis, Koki, that we heard about in previous books finally catches up with our heroine and is a terrifying prospect. (This story probably isn't ideal for anyone with insect and arachnid phobias!) The build up to their showdown is neck-bitingly tense and the battle itself is thrilling! A gripping adventure with strong characters and great dry humour.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Vered Ehsani / Steampunk fiction / Books from South Africa

Thursday 9 February 2017

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie


We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
First published in America by Fourth Estate in October 2014.

This is my third book for the See Orange Feminist February Challenge.


How I got this book:
Bought the ebook

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

‘I would like to ask that we begin to dream about and plan for a different world. A fairer world. A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start: we must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently…’
What does “feminism” mean today?
In this personal, eloquently argued essay – adapted from her much-admired Tedx talk of the same name – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now – an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.


I had previously heard of Adichie's now-famous TEDx speech, but hadn't watched or read it before now. Ellen at See Orange included the essay in her Feminist February list, a reading challenge instigated in response to Donald Trump's divisive chauvinism. I thought Adichie's words should also be a part of my Feminist February reading.

We Should All Be Feminists is a refreshingly common sense essay about feminism. This isn't the bra-burning, man-hating feminism of popular media fiction. Instead it looks at how the social expectations we drill into our children about their gender roles negatively affects both females and males throughout the rest of their lives. As Adichie remarks, our social structures have drastically evolved since physical strength was the determining factor of human success. 21st century success calls for non-gender specific attributes such as innovation, creativity and intelligence. Why, as a species, do we still hold ourselves back by routinely both assuming all males should aspire to such roles and excluding females from them? I see that Western society particularly insists on supposed individuality in practically every other aspect of life, but the thought of women or men choosing to breach gender boundaries, even if these individuals would ultimately be far happier by doing so, is still greeted with horror!

Adichie frequently refers to Nigerian life for her examples, but the scenarios she presents are easily as relevant to London or Los Angeles as they are to Lagos. I like her style and humour. Points are made without preaching or anger and I think most of us, female or male, will recognise ourselves at a least one point during the essay. I certainly did. Now our challenge is to change enough of the 'rules' that readers in a century's time will be baffled that such gender divisions ever existed!


Etsy Find!
by Ceird in
New Jersey, USA

Click pic to visit Etsy Shop


Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie / Sociology / Books from Nigeria

Wednesday 8 February 2017

The Queen Of Diamonds by Patricia Loufbourrow


The Queen Of Diamonds by Patricia Loufbourrow
Published in America by Red Dog Press in September 2016.

Where to buy this book:
Buy the ebook from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the ebook from Smashwords
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository
Buy signed books direct from the author

How I got this book:
Received a copy for signing up to the author's

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kidnapping. Murder. Betrayal. While the villain Frank Pagliacci is defeated, all is not well in Bridges. Tensions rise between the Families, who accuse each other of spying, while Red Dog attacks escalate. Aristocratic jewel merchant Anastasia Dame Louis, styling herself "The Queen of Diamonds," hires private eye Jacqueline Spadros to collect from her debtors so she can leave the city. But Jacqui can't leave David Bryce's kidnapping and the murders of her teenage informants unpunished. Convinced the madman "Black Jack" Diamond was behind the crimes, she pursues ways to prove it. The scoundrel and his crew, however, seem to be one step ahead: the terrifying man in white is seen lurking outside David's home, forged letters appear across the city, and merchants in the Spadros quadrant report threats from a man who fits his description.
Jack's sister Gardena Diamond then asks Jacqui for help: someone is attempting to blackmail her. It is then that Jacqui learns Rachel Diamond's curious secret - and the truth behind her terrible condition. When witnesses who can identify the kidnappers begin dying and evidence emerges that Jacqui's mother is next on the list, Jacqui is forced to make a dreadful choice. Someone will surely die. Will it be Jacqui, or her mother?


Having enjoyed Loufbourrow's worldbuilding in the first of her Red Dog Conspiracy series, The Jacq Of Spades, I was keen to move on into this second volume, The Queen Of Diamonds. A busy book with lots of tangled intrigues, The Queen Of Diamonds is intended to be read after The Jacq of Spades, but Loufbourrow includes frequent recaps so readers probably could manage the books out of order. I was disappointed that the main plot isn't really advanced and most of my time seemed to be spent watching Jacqui being served tea, endlessly changing her dresses and politely enquiring after other people's health. There are exciting moments, but these are frequently mired in excessive backstory information so tension is muted by a lack of pace. I struggled to remember who was who in the large cast as few have distinctive voices. Even the eponymous Queen is more of a cameo role than a fully fleshed out woman. We are told about her interesting life, but aren't shown it in her character. If the Red Dog Conspiracy was a trilogy, I would probably get the third book just to see how it all pans out, but the thought of ploughing through another eleven volumes to get to that point is too overwhelming!


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Patricia Loufbourrow / Steampunk / Books from America

Friday 3 February 2017

Three Daughters Of Eve by Elif Shafak


Three Daughters Of Eve by Elif Shafak
First published in the UK by Penguin Random House yesterday, the 2nd February 2017.
One of my WorldReads from Turkey
This is my second book for the See Orange Feminist February Challenge.

Where to buy this book:
Buy the book from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the hardback from Speedyhen
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository
Buy the hardback from Waterstones

How I got this book:
Received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor. A relic from a past - and a love - Peri had tried desperately to forget.
The photograph takes Peri back to Oxford University, as an eighteen year old sent abroad for the first time. To her dazzling, rebellious Professor and his life-changing course on God. To her home with her two best friends, Shirin and Mona, and their arguments about Islam and femininity. And finally, to the scandal that tore them all apart.


I loved this philosophical novel with its many thoughtful discussions on faith and culture, religion and God. It is a slow burn which might not appeal to some readers, but I thought the pace suited Shafak's themes perfectly. Set over one bourgeois Turkish dinner party, Three Daughters Of Eve reflects the courses of the meal. We are transported to Oxford some twenty years previously as Peri remembers and reveals defining moments and people from her time there. To me, these scenes felt like the filling dishes. Then we jump back briefly to present-day Istanbul for refreshing entremets and light relief.

Shafak makes many sharp observations, particularly about faith and our insistence on prejudging those whose religious views differ from our own. Her gathering of the three 'daughters' - the sinner, the believer and the confused - allows vividly tense scenes and I liked that we see the beginnings of Peri's self-belief in her differing reactions to arguments between Shirin and Mona compared to earlier similar scenes in her parental home. I could completely sympathise and empathise with Peri. Like her, I prefer solitude and the middle ground although I think her feelings of not quite fitting in are a more common trait than many of us care to admit.

I experienced many instances of finding myself triumphantly in agreement with characters' opinions and arguments whilst reading Three Daughters Of Eve, but was challenged in my own beliefs by said characters not always being the ones with whom I expected to identify. This novel feels ideally suited to our times, a call perhaps to stop and think about our theological similarities instead of joining the increasingly hysterical baying for arbitrary division and enmity.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Elif Shafak / Contemporary fiction / Books from Turkey

Wednesday 1 February 2017

The Secret Book Of Kings by Yochi Brandes


The Secret Book Of Kings by Yochi Brandes
First published in Hebrew as Kings III of Israel in Israel by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Divir Publishing House in 2008. English language translation by Yardenne Greenspan published by St Martin's Press in America in August 2016.

One of my WorldReads from Israel

This is my first book for the See Orange Feminist February Challenge.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the ebook from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the hardback from Speedyhen
Buy the hardback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:
Received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stories are deadlier than swords. Swords kill only those who stand before them, stories decide who will live and die in generations to come.
Shelomoam, a young man from the tribe of Ephraim, has grown up in the shadow of dark secrets. He wonders why his father is deathly afraid of the King’s soldiers and why his mother has lied about the identities of those closest to him. Shelomoam is determined to unearth his mysterious past, never imagining where his quest will ultimately lead him.
The Secret Book of Kings upends conventions of biblical novels, engaging with the canonized stories of the founding of the Kingdom of Israel and turning them on their heads. Presented for the first time are the heretofore unknown stories of the House of Saul and of the northern Kingdom of Israel, stories that were artfully concealed by the House of David and the scribes of the southern Kingdom of Judah.
Yochi Brandes, one of Israel’s all-time bestselling novelists, enlists her unique background in both academic Jewish scholarship and traditional religious commentaries to read the Bible in an utterly new way. In this book, a major publishing phenomenon in Israel and one of the bestselling novels in the history of the country, she uncovers vibrant characters, especially women, buried deep within the scriptures, and asks the loaded question: to what extent can we really know our past when history is written by the victors?


Two themes recur throughout The Secret Book Of Kings: 'Stories are deadlier than swords' and 'Our nation has a short memory'. Brandes' exploration of biblical history from the vanquished House's point of view cleverly illustrates both of these thought-provoking statements in the context of a gripping historical novel. I can't say how many biblical conventions are upended, as claimed in the synopsis, because I only recognised two moments - the David and Goliath encounter which is certainly upended here and, from Handel's Coronation Anthem, 'Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet' who 'an-oin-ted So-lo-mon Kiiiiing'. (Love that music!) Readers familiar with the Bible and the early Kings of Israel will no doubt enjoy greater depth of meaning and narrative from already being familiar with characters and events. Personally I did struggle with keeping track of everyone in the extensive supporting cast, especially their tribes and ancestral lineage, but easily understood enough of this to enjoy Shelomoam's quest.

Brandes covers decades of wars, secrets and political intrigues so there isn't much space for mundane details of how people lived. However I liked that her central characters, Shelomoam himself and King Saul's daughter, Princess Michal, are complex believable people. They live in times of incredible social upheaval and I found their respective coping strategies fascinating. I was also surprised at the strength and influence of the female characters. Although at a disadvantage in the strongly patriarchal society, none of these women are giddily fainting wallflowers!

I enjoyed reading The Secret Book Of Kings purely as a historical novel, but do feel that I have gained greater knowledge and understanding of this early period of biblical history - presumably from an upside-down point of view compared with tradition though! Our view of the past is obviously always guided by the stories left behind and, until the present era, human nature generally means victor's tales are all that remains for future generations to mull over. It would be interesting to discover how people familiar with traditional interpretations view this novel.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Yochi Brandes / Historical fiction / Books from Israel