Weekly Reader: The Everlasting Spring Beyond Olympus: Volume 1: Benjamin and Boudicca by Francis Audrain; Queen Boudicca is the Highlight of Verbose Inspirational Historical Fiction

 

Weekly Reader: The Everlasting Spring Beyond Olympus: Volume 1: Benjamin and Boudicca by Francis Audrain; Queen Boudicca is the Highlight of Verbose Inspirational Historical Fiction 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Queen Boudicca (?-CE 60 or 61) was a memorable figure in British history and that is an understatement. She was the queen of the Iceni tribe during the Roman occupation. Upon her husband, Prasutagus's death, the kingdom was supposed to be jointly left to his daughters and to Emperor Nero. However, the Romans reneged on that request and seized the kingdom for themselves. The property was taken, Boudicca was flogged, and her daughters were raped. Boudicca led the Iceni and other troops in revolt against the Romans. They destroyed Camulodunum, a colony for discharged Roman soldiers. They then defeated factions and burnt both Londinium and Verulamium. Even though they outnumbered the Romans, the Britons were defeated in the West Midlands. Defeated, Boudicca either committed suicide or died from illness.

The story of Boudicca is one that is familiar to many Brits. Her story was first told over 100 years after her death and achieved fame particularly during the Elizabethan and Victorian Era. Paintings and sculptures have been made of her, including one that resides on the western end of Westminster Bridge. She has been the subject of countless books, movies, plays, and TV shows. She is shown as a symbol of Britain's fighting spirit and strength, the way that the Founding Fathers are held up as symbols of America's fight for freedom and independence. Suffragists and feminists have also taken to her image seeing her as a strong independent woman who fought against Rome's patriarchy.

She is also the subject of Francis Audrain's Inspirational Historical Fiction, The Everlasting Spring Beyond Olympus Volume 1 Benjamin and Boudicca. The book tells two parallel stories: one of Boudicca and Benjamin, a Jewish man who converts to Christianity but then is sent to Roman occupied Briton after his family is murdered and he is held captive. He makes his way to Boudicca's encampment and takes part in the rebellion against the Romans.

There are actually two parts to this book, two separate stories which could be critiqued individually: Benjamin's and Boudicca's. Boudicca's portion is the highlight of the book by being active with a character showing tremendous leadership Benjamin's portion is lacking by being overly verbal and repetitive.

Boudicca is a character who commands every moment that she is in. Even in the beginning of the book, Boudicca's pain over her flogging and her daughters's rape is very present but so is her rage and fury. She is a strong leader willing to unite the various tribes over the common cause of fighting Rome. Many of the chapters explore the known battle sites and the action that took place there as the British were led by a very uncommon and very badass woman.

Boudicca often makes strategic plans but is also an unstoppable fighting force. She is a protective mother aware of the hurt that her daughters went through and looks after them with the devotion of a mother bear especially when she grows concerned when one daughter, Fiona, becomes enamored with Benjamin. Boudicca sees the future and wants to fight her and her people's right to be a part of it.

While Boudicca heralds a commanding presence in the book, Benjamin is not near as memorable. The beginning of the book is interesting as he struggles with the grief of losing his family and reconciles his desire for revenge with his newly found Christianity. He also has some interesting conversations with Boudicca about their different faiths.

However, the book runs far too long especially during Benjamin's many efforts to convert Boudicca and her family. It's not a case of "Live and let live" or "To each their own spiritual path." Benjamin hammers down Christianity to the point of overkill insisting that they must be saved or else. Inspirational Fiction is better when characters let their actions do the talking and show Christian love rather than talking about the path to Salvation and trying to win souls with constant repetition.

It also is inaccurate to try to force a conversion out of Boudicca and her daughters when historically Christianity didn't arrive in the British Isles until approximately 597 CE, hundreds of years after Boudicca died. It may have been better to show an actual historical figure that converted like Constantine or even a fictional character rather than create a religious paradox around someone who historically would not have known about let alone never asked to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

With more action, showing God's love rather than talking about, and historical accuracy in characters, Everlasting Spring could be a great inspirational historical fiction. But for right now, this is one spring that needs more than a trickle to become a river.

Weekly Reader: Cogrill's Mill by Jack Lindsey; Cute Charming Romance Has A Lot of Laughs and Weirdness

Weekly Reader: Cogrill's Mill by Jack Lindsey; Cute Charming Romance Has A Lot of Laughs and Weirdness

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Jack Lindsey's novel, Cogrill's Mill is sort of what would happen if you transported P.G. Wodehouse's characters to modern day and had someone like Richard Curtis write about their current love lives.

It is a cute and charming story about a spoiled rich man with very little common sense who goes into a business partnership with a Bohemian photographer and he opens his business to her artist friends. You just know this is one of those types of books where people will fall in love and hilarity will ensue. Luckily, it is a genuinely funny sweet book that even though the journey is familiar, it is also a lot of fun.

On his 30th birthday, George Cogrill is given the riot act by his Aunt Jane. He is not married, has not held down a job, and has done nothing with the money he inherited from his father. There is a codicil in the will that states that if he hasn't done anything with his fortune by the time he is 30, then he forfeits his inheritance.
Aunt Jane has a suggestion to start. Years ago, George's father cheated his former business partner, Victor Gloam, and built his financial empire off of that. Jane commands that George give half of his inheritance to Gloam. Unfortunately, Gloam died leaving his daughter, Vicky.
When George is ordered to give that half to Vicky, Vicky has some ideas to create business. One of them is to market and sell the delicious apple cider that George produces from his mill. The cider is highly recommended but only available at the local pub. Vicky also wants to expand the mill to open a fashion photography studio and maybe an artist's colony inside the small English village inhabited by George and Aunt Jane.

Cogrill's Mill is hilarious, partly because it deviates from expectations.
While Aunt Jane seems to be borrowed from Wodehouse's elderly pesky dictatorial aunts, she is not from the Edwardian Age so much as she is a retiree from the Age of Aquarius. Instead of the stereotypical “old lady” hobbies like gardening or crocheting, Aunt Jane likes to ride motorcycles. She has plenty of them but only British variety: Triumph Bonnevilles, Norton, and BSA. “These Japanese and continental machines are much too inferior,” she insists. Later, when someone mentions Harley-Davidson, she asks who that is. Though nationalistic in her choice of vehicles, Aunt Jane welcomes Vicky and her new friends. She finds new people to befriend and be nosy towards while biking across country roads.


Lindsey also does a great job of writing George, Vicky, the villagers, and the visiting artists making them a delightful community of likable characters.
Jack, a local pub tender, is the first to cheer lead for George's cider and ends up being at the forefront of selling the stuff. The cider makes a killing of Jack's pub business, much to his chagrin, when tourists keep arriving at his pub for the cider.

There is Justin, an artist that George believes is involved with Vicky until he is informed that Justin is involved with Jonathan, a model. Justin and Jonathan are frequently together so it is no surprise to the Reader as it is to George, thereby showing that George really needs to get a clue.

There is Tom Firkin, a gamekeeper who hides artistic talent and develops a romance with Vicky’s model friend, Miranda, despite his bucolic shy exterior. His dialect reveals that he is far from the dumb rural stereotype. Instead he is a sweet man who just needs encouragement from the right woman.
Miranda inadvertently causes a running gag by revealing her real name, Mabel, to George. George covers up for Miranda's embarrassment by telling Vicky that Mabel is the name of Jane's cat which she doesn't have. Vicky then spends some of the book looking for Aunt Jane's nonexistent cat.

Of course George and Vicky have some cute moments where the ambitious Vicky bickers with the complacent, George. There are also plenty of misunderstandings such as George proposing a business idea to Vicky and both she and Aunt Jane think it's a marriage proposal.
These humorous moments are driven by the characters’ personalities and behaviors giving a sweetness and gentleness to the events.

There are some weird moments towards the end. A smooth relative of Vicky's turns out to be a crook who takes some unnecessarily violent repercussions on the other characters. One wealthy character dies and leaves their fortune to their dog and another character gets amnesia and spends some time with a British Country-Western band.
The last third of the book becomes silly and farcical instead of the gentle character-driven comedy but most of the book produces some sweet moments that make you root for the characters and want to see them succeed.

Underneath the sweet characters and humorous plot points, there is an underlying theme of moving out of one's comfort zone and taking chances. Once George and Vicky share the fortune, they discover hidden talents in other people like Tom, Jack, Justin, Miranda and other characters. They also discover talents within each other.

George is revealed to make a great cider that he has never wanted to market until Vicky convinces him to. He also has a good eye for photography so he starts taking his own pictures becoming an honorary member of the artists’ colony.

Vicky also has some talents that encourages her to step onto the other side of the camera. She is very photogenic and becomes a model. She also acquires an acting talent and accepts the lead in a romantic comedy (inside the romantic comedy that is the book, Cogrill's Mill). The two achieve success once they display those talents to the world.

With success comes problems like the rush of tourists, sycophants who suck up to the newly famous, and in one chapter, George having to speak at conferences while hung over. But those problems help turn the lives of George, Vicky, Aunt Jane, and their friends around into something different.

The characters in Cogrill's Mill move on from their lives into new experiences that change them, sometimes better and more fulfilling and sometimes worse and with more headaches. But, the new experiences move them beyond their exteriors to become characters that are sweeter, funnier, more authentic, and more real.