fiction – Page 7 – Book of Jen

The Priest’s Madonna – by Amy Hassinger

The Priest’s Madonna fits into the historical fiction genre. The main story takes place between 1884 and 1917, in a small village in France. Marie, and her family (her parents, foster sister, and younger brother) move into a small village due to some misfortune. They are not greeted very warmly at all.

Marie is sixteen-years-old at the time. Soon, a friend of her mother’s comes to live with the family. Berenger Sauniere is good looking and charismatic, and catches the attention of the young Marie.

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The Other Boleyn Girl – by Philippa Gregory

The Other Boleyn Girl fits into the historical fiction genre. The reader is immersed in England of the 1500s. The story focuses on people who really existed and events that actually happened.

It is based on the lives of two sisters from the Boleyn family. Mary is 12, and already married to a man named William Carey when the book starts. Her slightly older sister, Anne, is just returning from France, where she was part of the French King’s Court. Both girls, and their older brother George, are going to be part of the English King Henry’s Court.

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Leonardo’s Swans – by Karen Essex

Leonardo’s Swans fits into the historical fiction drama. It is based on the lives of two sisters – Isabella and Beatrice – who actually existed. Both were alive in Italy around the time of the Renaissance.

The sisters were born into a very rich family. The girls were each betrothed when Isabella was six-years-old and Beatrice was five-years-old to men they had not met. The entire story is presented from the viewpoint of Isabella, or the viewpoint of Beatrice.

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The Space Between Us – by Thrity Umrigar

The Space Between Us is set in India. In addition to being about the kinds of troubles that only women experience, (a world of difference from what men’s lives are like), it focuses on the lives of three particular women. Men have more freedom and opportunities than women do.

Sera is a wealthy woman. Bhima is her servant. Maya is the granddaughter of Bhima. The book defines the “space between” the lives of women who have servants, and the women who are servants. It explores the views held in India about the separation of different classes.

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Hey Nostradamus! – by Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland is good at creating bizarre situations that happen to characters that seem very real. In Hey Nostradamus!, Coupland gives you a story that requires readers to think about things beyond the events currently unfolding on the pages in front of them.

The story focuses on a fictional act of gun violence. The massacre in the book is not based on real events (so far as I can tell). The reader knows that the events in the book did not really happen. Despite this, the story is terrifying in many ways because gun violence is something that keeps happening, over and over again, all across America.

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All Families are Psychotic – by Douglas Coupland

The title of this book, all by itself, screams out to people who come from dysfunctional families. I happened to start reading All Families are Psychotic right as the holiday season was starting. The story has nothing to do with the Christmas (or other holidays), but somehow, that felt like the perfect time to read it. I found myself relating to the title very much.

Book Reviews, fiction 0

Pompeii – by Robert Harris

Pompeii is a work of historical fiction, which I really enjoyed. It is about the Roman town of Pompeii, the surrounding towns, and some of the people who lived there. Those familiar with history will go into the book knowing that Mt. Vesuvius is about to blow up and cover Pompeii with ashes, killing everyone who is there.

The book takes place in four days: two days before the volcanic eruption, and the two days during the eruption.