The Sunflower Widows by Matthew Fults; Building Community Through War and Grief

 

The Sunflower Widows by Matthew Fults; Building Community Through War and Grief 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Spoilers: War brings many victims not just those who were killed but in the survivors especially those who have lost loved ones during war. For the friends and family members, the loss brings long term grief and sorrow. Even when the reasons to go into war are understandable, it still brings violence, death, and heartache. Sometimes the only things that a survivor can do is continue and find positive means of survival. One of the ways is to form a community of those who have had similar experiences so they can share their loss together. That's what happens to the women in Matthew Fults’ novel, The Sunflower Widows.

The Sunflower Widows tells the story of four women from a small Ukrainian village who have lost husbands and other loved ones in battle, particularly during the recent Russo-Ukrainian War. They meet at the home of Kathryna, an elderly woman who is familiar with death and grief. She befriends three younger widows, Yulia, a newlywed, Anna, a middle aged wife of a career soldier, and Natalya, a suddenly single mother. They form a network of support, understanding, and love.

The women's stories are individually told through flashbacks that focus on their lives and relationships before the war then moves to the present as they form a tight bond of sisterhood that encourages laughter, tears, empathy, and understanding. They are fascinating characters coming into their own separate lives before they come together as a group.

Their past stories are moving, detailed, emotional, and sometimes even funny. For example, Yulia and her husband Maksym have a meet-cute when she and her female friends have a flirting match with him and his male friends. In their one and one battle of words, they both emerge as the winners because they agree to date. The date blossoms into a relationship that evolves into a happy marriage for a time.

The flashbacks feature memories that become precious because they are gone. Even the most mundane of activities carry significance that they didn’t before. Anna’s grief is haunted by conversations that were started but never finished about how she and Borys saw their future particularly with or without children.

Their past memories parallel with their new normal in which they have to live without their loved ones.Natalya tries to put up a brave front for her infant son while her world falls apart around her as she mourns her husband. Dmitryo’s death. Her conflicts in being present for her son while wanting to withdraw into herself and her memories are understandable and relatable especially by those who have experienced similar loss. 

They don’t even have to be widows to understand the pain that these women go through. Kathryna herself was unmarried but is no stranger to death. As a child, her father was killed in WWII before she had the chance to really know him. She empathizes with these women because her mother went through the same process.

Because the characters are at different stages in life, the deaths feel like an interruption of what would be a normal process of one life transition to another. Yulia wanted to have a longer marriage to Maksym than the one that ended early and abruptly. Anna was looking forward to Borys’s retirement and spending her twilight years with him. Natalya now has a child, Zdeno, who will grow up never knowing his father, Dmitryo. Putin robbed them all of those chances when his Russian Army invaded their country.

The cause of the war is to fight against the invaders and for Ukraine to maintain its independent sovereignty. The four women understand that and want to live in a country free of invaders and Russian authority disrupting their cities, homes, routines, and daily lives. But agreeing with the cause doesn’t make the grief any less bearable and their husbands any less missed. This acknowledgement of courage and sacrifice can be seen when Kathryna lays out two more chairs when she meets the other three women. The reason that she sets the two empty chairs is because “there will always be widows.” 

The Sunflower Widows has a strong theme of community and togetherness. In their mutual grief, the four women are there for each other. They listen to each other’s stories offering tea and conversation. The other women hold and sit for Zdeno becoming honorary aunts. They encourage each other to change jobs and relocate if they have to. They wipe away one another’s tears and wrap their arms around each other with loving embraces. 

In collaborating and communicating with each other and drawing other mourners in, the Sunflower Widows learn that while grief never really goes away, there can always be something positive found in sharing it with and helping others. 

Visage of Moros by Tamel Wino; Intense and Harrowing Contemporary Fiction Novel About Loss, Grief, and Vengeance

 Visage of Moros by Tamel Wino; Intense and Harrowing Contemporary Fiction Novel About Loss, Grief, and Vengeance 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: On the surface Tamel Wino’s Visage of Moros couldn't be more different from his previous book, Dusk Upon Elysium if it tried. The former is a modern Contemporary Fiction novel about a father grieving the death of his daughter. The latter is a Science Fiction novel about a sentient AI that traps users in a paradise of their own design but where their former guilty secrets come back to haunt them. In style and genre they are different, but they have a lot in common thematically.

Both deal with memories of a pleasant paradise, almost a fantasy that is disrupted by a violent, bloody reality. What results is a destroyed protagonist forced to recognize his broken emotions, shattered dreams, and the darkness surrounding them. However, in Dusk Upon Elysium the idyllic fantasy is non-existent, a creation from AI to keep users complacent and lethargic. In Visage of Moros, the idyllic fantasy happened but it was in the past and haunts the protagonist as he deals with the intense grief that envelops his current present reality.

Drystan Caine, a prestigious artist once had a beautiful halcyon family life with his wife, Sophie and their daughter, Alba. It was a life of serious and supportive conversations, family jokes, comfortable money and home, and memorable vacations. That life comes crashing down when Alba disappears one day. Her parent's anxiety turns into grief when the girl's body is found and it becomes clear that she has been murdered. Drystan and Sophie are devastated and their marriage implodes. Sophia takes small steps to move forward with her life, still hurting but willing to live. Drystan however retreats into himself as he becomes a recluse. The only emotions that Drystan feels are crippling depression and simmering rage ready to seek revenge on Alba’s killer if he can find them.

It's also worth noting that there is also a great deal in common between Visage of Moros and Michael J Bowler’s Losing Austin which I just reviewed in that both deal with a family suffering when a child goes missing. However, Austin provides a fanciful Science Fiction based path and resolution whereas Visage of Moros is all too real with Alba’s disappearance and her parent's, particularly Drystan's despair, depression, and rage.

The contrast between Drystan’s life before and after Alba’s death is extensive and deep. The more pleasant that Drystan describes his past, the more the anguish comes through as that past is cruelly ripped away. Wino is able to write those memories not as cloying and mawkish but as clear, matter of fact, and painful. His words are those of someone who has seen those days slip away. They are precious to him because his present life is so empty. It's hateful that Alba's murderers took not only Alba's life physically but Drystan's life which essentially ended when his daughter died. 

Since the book is mostly told from Drystan's first person point of view, we are made to share his conflicting emotions and his transition between sadness and anger. He is completely isolated from everyone. He retreats to a cabin and becomes a recluse only leaving to shop for bare essentials. He can't stop thinking and talking about Alba or remembering that awful day.

He makes some effort to bond with Alba's former boyfriend and a female friend but these moments are brief. Even as he tries to find some semblance of life around him, something to assuage his grief, he always comes back to his sadness. It can be exhausting and draining to read about his grief especially if one has an empathetic response towards another's pain. This book does not keep the Reader at an emotional distance but instead pulls them in daring us to see the world through the eyes of someone whose world has essentially come to an end.

There are elements of Mystery or Thriller as Drystan investigates Alba's killer. It doesn't dwell much on the search so the mechanics of the plot aren't as important as how Drystan feels about it and how he pushes others away in his single-minded pursuit to find a resolution, a denouement to his pain. 

Most of the action consists of Drystan getting lucky in finding a potential lead and stalking them in the pursuit of murdering them in retaliation. Frozen despair gives way to active aggression and it isn't any better for him. He wants to take this person's life since they took Alba's. Like before with his despair, there is no room left in his life for anything but vengeance. 

Drystan's rage is understandable but it is also severe and uncompromising. In a strange way, while he drew us, the Readers in with his grief, he pushed us away with his rage. He's become someone else that even the Reader isn't sure that they recognize. He breaks his last tie and isolates himself, even from us. 

Probably this self-imposed isolation is what is at play in one of the more questionable and puzzling aspects of the book. The final pages reveal a strange plot twist that came from nowhere and is not followed with any sort of resolution. It's possible that Wino wanted to throw in a final twist but there may be another reason.

 It’s possible that Drystan missing the twist is the point. He is so consumed by grief and hatred, that he can't see what's literally in front of him. He is single minded that the person that he chose killed Alba is the one that he won't believe any different. That isolation drove him insane and he would rather continue down this trajectory than sooth it by admitting that he was wrong and moving on with his life. 

The twist is the final note of isolation between protagonist and Reader. It's telling that it is one of the few times where Drystan's first person point of view is no longer present. The twist becomes omniscient, almost intrusive, and is in third person. Drystan is unaware of it. The Reader is and they can't say anything. Drystan wouldn't listen anyway. It's almost a tragic irony that the answer is right in front of him but not acknowledged by him but by us. He's lost his final link to the outside world and is left alone.

Visage of Moros is a heartfelt meditation on loss, grief, Depression, anger, and vengeance. It's harrowing, intense, and ultimately cathartic.

For Those Looking For The Light by Victoria Pen, From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era by Susan Williamson, and The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone

 For Those Looking For The Light by Victoria Pen, From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era by Susan Williamson, and The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone

For Those Looking For The Light by Victoria Pen

Victoria Pen’s concrete poetry is filled with deep emotions like depression, grief, nostalgia, worry, but also joy, hope and peace. It dares Readers to empathize and feel what the Speakers are feeling and listen to their voices.

The best poems are: 

“My Dear Child”-A poem in which the Speaker mourns the death or separation of their child. The constant repetition of “I wish I could” recognizes the regret of things that the child could have learned and felt with their parents like warmth and protection but now cannot. It is melancholic and sadness not only for what was lost but what can never be.

“Learning What Home Feels Like”-A poem in which the Speaker weighs many negative feelings towards themselves such as “ugly,” “dim witted,” “awkward,” and “embarrassing.” The twist is that the Speaker accepts those words and takes pride in them. They and their strange interests are what makes them who they are. Anyone who has ever felt self-conscious because of their personality traits, occupation, study path, or interests will understand and even relate.

“I Aspire To Be a Writer”- A poem in which the Speaker addresses their desire to be a writer. Even though they have the drive (and assuming this was Pen’s point of view herself, she also has the talent.), they constantly worry about how to get started, their subject, and publishers. This poem addresses the insecurities and anxieties that creative people have when they work on something. They worry about how their message will be projected,  what will people think of it, or if anyone bothers reading it at all. The important thing in creation is not the doubts but being able to move past them and exploring talent and the process to the fullest.

“The Colorful Leaves”-A nature poem in which the Speaker illustrates their love of autumn. It is filled with visual imagery like the orange, purple, and red leaves and the anxious people worried about snow. The poem talks about the season’s transitional function as not yet cold for winter, not hot for summer, and not thought of as beautiful like spring. It is an in between season but this Speaker recognizes autumn’s own individual beauty and uniqueness.

“Drifting At Sea”-An extended metaphor in which the Speaker compares their life to a sea in which they are just drifting along. The Speaker feels like they are not in control of their life and things are just happening around them. Sometimes they feel that they are deliberately being set up to fail and all that they can do is just wait. It is very similar to Depression and how people who have it often feel disconnected from their lives. Even when they try to improve, they are still met with failure, rejection, and disappointment. They want to move but can't so they remain stuck and floating.

“The Four Walls”-A poem in which the Speaker thinks of their room as a sanctuary by protecting them from abuse but also a prison keeping them from facing that fear and getting away. The Speaker’s room protected them from the monsters, implying that they were abused as a child. As an adult, they realized that remaining hidden in their room was only a temporary reprieve. It took leaving and finding a safe place away from the abuse to really find inner peace.

“If I Were a Flower”-An extended metaphor in which The Speaker compares themselves to a flower. The Speaker asks their lover some difficult questions whether they would take away their beauty or rather their view of themselves, would they leave them, if they would forget about them, or would they leave them for other lovers. The Speaker is very insecure and even though is looked upon as someone of great beauty and emotion, is concerned whether their Lover’s feelings will change.

“The Importance of Boundaries”-A poem that addresses boundaries and The Speaker’s changing feelings towards them. They realized that boundaries aren't the signs of a bad person. They are a sign of limits, that someone can only take so much. There is a metaphor of animals that instinctively run from danger. The Speaker compares themselves to those animals who know to run and they do the same.

“Cultural Cash Out”-This poem addresses the problems of the “greedy culture” where people are cruel, ignorant, care only about making money, and step on those under them. Pen’s poems rarely get political but this one does. It addresses health care denial, the work grind, low pay, and the desire but not the opportunity of moving up. It's a cry of anger at a culture that not only doesn't care if people live or die but profit off of their death and destruction.

“Hope Has A Name of Ivory”-This poem addresses the Speaker’s Faith. The poem personifies Hope in human terms that it has beautiful eyes and gentle hands. Hope’s name is compared to ivory and gold, precious bones and metals that hold great value. It almost reads like a Medieval riddle poem in which Pen drops hints about who Hope’s human form is. The answer becomes obvious by the final stanza and shows the depths of the Speaker’s spiritual devotion and faith.

 From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era by Susan Williamson

In this Digital Age of virtual assistance, self checkout, prepayment, shopping online, and AI Interface, the human element is still important particularly in customer service. Like many other professions, customer service is adapting to modern technology. However, the human element is still a factor. Susan Williamson’s book From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era explores how customer service representatives still need to maintain empathy and interpersonal skills to give customers quality assistance.

One of the key factors in good customer service is emotional intelligence. That includes behaving with empathy and implementing active listening. Empathy allows one to understand what the customer needs and using the right probing questions to fully comprehend the situation and provide for their needs. Active listening is the process in which one summarizes, uses open ended questions, and allows the other person to verbalize their situation and make their own decisions. Emotional Intelligence can be used to pick up emotional cues like active observation, feedback analysis, and validating emotions.

It's important for customer service representatives to design memorable customer experiences and that involves identifying customer personas, mapping their journey, implementing feedback mechanisms, and analyzing trends. These procedures help representatives learn about the different types of people that they need to help, how the customer retains information, when the representative needs to probe and when to leave off, and individual personalities and needs of the various customers. In doing this, they can create  individual personalized experiences for different people and build variety into their busy days. Even personal creative touches like extra services, sales for regulars, or representatives remembering details such as regular customer’s names or birthdays add to a personalized experience that makes customers feel unique and individual.

Of course difficult customers are frequent and can make the customer service job extremely stressful. Williams's book peers into conflicts between representatives and customers. The step-by-step approach includes identifying the root cause, using “I” statements to communicate understanding, brainstorming solutions together, implementing and following through, and seeking feedback for continuous improvement. Things like tone variation, body language, mirroring positive customer behavior, cultural sensitivity regarding nonverbal cues, body language, and paying attention to communication barriers goes a long way to improve interaction. 

The book includes various examples of challenging interactions and describes how a representative should handle them. For example aggressive customers raise their voices, demand action, and use harsh language. The representative must stay calm. A simple phrase like “I understand that this is a frustrating situation. Let's work together to fix it” is helpful. Customers want to be heard so that approach makes them feel heard and validated. They can go from being combative to collaborative.

Technology presents its own issues with representatives integrating it in their work but also maintaining the human connection. Williamson suggests that workers can select the right tools, prioritize user friendliness, ensure integration capabilities, and conduct a cost-benefit analyses. Personal connection can be integrated with technology by making tech work with employees and not replace them, making human oversight an easy seamless process, using feedback loops to stay ahead of customer needs, and creating an emotional impact. 

This book tells customer service representatives that the best way to show good customer service is to increase the human connection while integrating and adapting to modern technology.

The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone 

While William Shakespeare’s name is practically synonymous with Dramatic Theater, English Literature, and The Elizabethan Era, there is still much about his life that remains a complete mystery. Between his marriage and career as a school teacher in Stratford Upon Avon to the time he began to establish himself as a playwright and actor with Lord Chamberlain’s Men, there is a ten year period in which he was undocumented. What happened during those ten years and what was he doing? He was married though frequently separated from his wife, Anne Hathaway and fathered three children, Susannah, Judith, and Hamnet by her (adding to their tempestuous marriage was that Susannah was born a mere five to six months after their marriage suggesting that Anne’s pregnancy was the reason for it.)

However some of his romantic sonnets are addressed to a Dark Lady,which the pale and fair haired Anne was not. Who was this Dark Lady and what was her and William's relationship really like? For that matter, Shakespeare was a country lad with a limited education mostly attributed to reading books and watching plays yet his plays suggest a vast intellect, creative talent, high education, traveling experience. Is it entirely possible that Shakespeare was only given the title of author and someone else actually wrote the plays, but who? Just what was Shakespeare’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth and King James really like? Many of his History plays trace back their family lineage and the lines in the plays often speak of deep respect for the Royals but during a time when religious schisms between the Protestants and Catholics, many of the plays show a more than passing acquaintance with Catholic rituals and beliefs. Also, the plays feature various conspiracies and uprisings against the people in charge. Was Shakespeare vilifying or encouraging the protests?

Historians, scholars and authors have addressed these questions in different ways. One of my favorite series, The Shakespearean Fantasy Series by Sarah A. Hoyt, gives a magical fantastic interpretation to these questions in which Bill encountered fairies on his path to literary immortality. Another possibility is the more realistic but still fascinating Historical Fiction novella, The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone. 

This interpretation suggests that Shakespeare was a closet Catholic in a predominantly Protestant country and spent time abroad in Southern Europe and Africa where he became involved in political conspiracy, espionage missions where he learned how to be a master of disguise, and romance with Amina Safuwa, a former apprentice nun who was the Dark Lady. Oh yes and his plays were written mostly by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford who did not want authorship credit. Shakespeare as a Lord Chamberlain's performer and later head was given sole credit. Though Shakespeare was no slouch in writing himself as he composed his own sonnets, the epic poems Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece, and some of the plays himself by combining various sources that he read.

This is a brilliant book that drops some tantalizing theories that fill in the blanks of Shakespeare’s life. It fills them by Sone paying tribute to what would later be known about his life and work while dropping some interesting speculation about the parts that needed filling. His time in Rome, Spain, and particularly Corsico become fruitful in his education both as a spy and the head of an acting company.

 His training consists of adopting disguises and being in character through voice, mannerisms, and body language. One of his colleagues, Victoria is an example of a seasoned actor using their skills in the espionage game. She acts as a courier and go between while taking various forms, most notably as a hunchbacked old woman. Another character, Dr. Lopez has a variety of aliases and identities that he goes by including a final one which no doubt inspired many of Shakespeare's Comedy plays that involve mistaken identity and characters disguising themselves. 

Shakespeare is also given literary works to study that would later be instrumental in his theatrical work such as Hollingshead's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (where the sources for his History plays and many of his tragedies like Macbeth began) and Plutarch’s Lives (where works like Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra originated). We see that many of the survival tools that later made him famous were based on research and observation.

Sone writes Shakespeare as compelling, complex, and contradictory as well the protagonist in a Shakespeare play. He does this by playing various roles to the public, his intimate circle, and to himself. He is a devout Catholic who is appalled by the treatment that his fellow practitioners receive at the hands of Queen Elizabeth, particularly his father who was arrested. He is involved in some pretty daring plots to restore the monarchy to Catholicism. Most notably late in the book he works behind the scenes during the infamous Gunpowder Plot headed by Guy Fawkes but he does not openly defy the monarchy.

 In fact he works so well behind the scenes that while he is under suspicion of conspiratorial ties, he is never arrested for them. There are some pretty tense moments where he comes close such as a performance of Richard II which escalates into a sting operation against conspirators. 

Shakespeare takes a pragmatic approach to rebellion. As the figurehead leader of his company of Players and a central figure in the rebellious espionage ring, he can't afford to give himself away by being openly defiant. If a spy goes down, that's terrible but results in the loss of one person. If he goes down, the whole network and acting company goes down with him.

 He knows when to restrain himself in the presence of superiors especially royalty. In fact, he develops such a good rapport with the Queen that after she is amused by Falstaff, the supporting character from Henry IV and V, she commands that Shakespeare write a Comedy about Falstaff in love resulting in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

As for the other Shakespeare mysteries, they lead to some interesting analysis to Shakespeare’s character. He shows that he is able to write effectively through his poems and sonnets. He also has some creative planning and thinking skills as he comes up with the idea of combining multiple sources to create a new work as he does with Romeo and Juliet combining one story about feuding families with another about separated lovers.

 However, the book suggests that the dubious authorship is born because of mutual insecurities. Shakespeare needs to be seen as the head of Lord Chamberlain's Men but is concerned that his lack of formal education and rural background would be barriers in his writing. De Vere is a nobleman with tremendous talent but is concerned that his acknowledged authorship would be a threat to his status. Plus they are both involved within the Catholic community so they work out a deal. De Vere writes and sends the plays, Shakespeare accepts credit and his troupe produces and performs them. Also their plays contained coded messages and inside references to the Catholic community.

Amina is also compelling even if her appearances shorten as the book continues. She is strong willed and devoted to her causes as much as Shakespeare is but because of her physical appearance in Renaissance England, she doesn't have the luxury of hiding in public the way her lover does. As a result, they spend a large part of the book separated by distance and authority. However, the time that they spend is seen as a meeting between two strong feisty individuals who stand equally to one another. Amina and Shakespeare”s relationship in the book results in some intriguing plot twists that add to the speculation that the book conveys.

The Corsico Conspiracy shows that like his characters Shakespeare knew that the world was a stage so he was ready to play many parts.

The Towpath: A Time Travel Suspense Thriller by Jonathan David Walter; The Intricate Fragility of Time Travel

 

The Towpath: A Time Travel Suspense Thriller by Jonathan David Walter; The Intricate Fragility of Time Travel

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Time travel can be a precarious subject with the possibilities and paradoxes. Like going back in time to kill Adolf Hitler or prevent John F. Kennedy’s assassination could lead to history changing for the better or worse. Perhaps the Soviet Union becomes the victor in the Cold War or another dictator is created from the ashes of World War I or II. Imagine going back in time and accidentally killing or falling in love with your ancestor. You wouldn’t be there to travel back but then who killed or fell in love with them? What about seeing the future knowing what is to come but being unable to prevent it? Time travel can be very excruciating and produces many migraines to figure out the rules and fiction has explored the concept in different ways. Jonathan David Walter’s The Towpath is an example of a novel that explores the complex intricacies and fragile strands that the concept of time stands on.

A mysterious character called The Redeemer is in mourning for her daughter, Hannah, who committed suicide. She is searching for a powerful medallion which will allow the wearer to go back in time so she can prevent the girl’s death. Unfortunately, the medallion is accidentally found by Aaron Porter, a teen boy. Once he learns what the medallion can do, Aaron wants to use it to find his missing brother, Owen. The discovery puts Aaron and his friends, Simon and Libby in immediate danger as The Redeemer pursues them with the assistance of a group of Iroquois warriors that she gathered from the 17th century. 

The Towpath has plenty of depth, particularly with its main protagonist and antagonist. The Redeemer alternates between troubled and terrifying. While searching for Aaron, she gives one of his classmates a particularly painful and grisly death. She is willing to kill for the medallion or send the Iroquois to do it and has no conscience when it comes to inflicting pain on the teen. In her desire to save her child from death, she has no qualms about inflicting it on other children.

However, The Redeemer is not completely soulless. Her intense grief over her daughter’s suicide is very real. Her telepathic conversations with Hannah’s younger self pours out the unhinged rage and despair over the girl’s death and the extreme lengths that she goes through to save her. This is a woman whose traumatized grief has driven her insane.

There is a possibility that time travel itself has played a hand in The Redeemer’s cracking mental state. She has completely disfigured herself and has become desensitized to the historical violence in which she encountered. She has some bouts of kindness such as helping the Iroquois in their fights against white settlers but they’re almost always with the specific goal in mind to save Hannah. As she travels back and forth, The Redeemer loses parts of herself more and more until in one heartbreaking moment she is rejected by Hannah who is frightened of and angry at her. She has become the person that she didn’t want to be because of her grief that has eaten away inside her. 

Aaron is someone who if they were on the same side, would understand what the Redeemer is going through. He too has felt tremendous loss. He has no memories of his birth father. His stepfather, a kindly veteran, died. His mother lives in a drugged and depressed stupor so he is cared for by Owen.The loss that he feels after Owen disappears is just as harrowing as The Redeemer’s mourning. He is not just mourning his brother, but someone who had become another father figure to him shortly after losing his last one. 

The twin stories of grief and obsession are fascinating parallels because it serves as a warning. The Redeemer stands as someone that Aaron is in danger of becoming if his sadness and anger overpower him. He could become just as driven, just as heartless, and just as insane as the woman who is chasing him. 

The intricacies of time travel are brilliantly explored particularly after Aaron and The Redeemer both travel backwards in time and encounter Hannah. She is bruised, morose, and detached. Aaron has to help the troubled girl and repair the rift between her and her mother, without running into his past self. However, he desperately wants to warn and protect Owen from his own fate. 

There are plenty of existentialist questions that are asked. If they rescue them from these specific incidents, are they really saving them or postponing the inevitable? Hannah is clearly troubled and her mother’s presence unnerves her. In her drive to save Hannah, is The Redeemer airbrushing the past and not acknowledging her own culpability in creating the tormented soul that Hannah became? Would Aaron’s knowledge of Owen’s future drive him closer to his brother or further away? If they are saved by their loved one’s trips to the past, then what happens to them in the future? They wouldn’t have this drive to travel back in time or maybe not the ability, so they wouldn’t be able to go back to save them. Would running into their past selves lead to a paradox by their mere presence and would they have any memories of this meeting or the circumstances that led to it? 

These questions are addressed and explored in ways that weigh these potential consequences and change things for better and sometimes for worse. 

Return of the Weird #2: Merchants of Light and Bone (The Pentagonal Dimensions Book 2) by Erika McCorkle; A Family Drama From Another Dimension

 

Return of the Weird #2: Merchants of Light and Bone (The Pentagonal Dimensions Book 2) by Erika McCorkle; A Family Drama From Another Dimension 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: So we come to the next weird book continuation, the next installment in Erika McCorkle’s Pentagonal Dominion series: one of the strangest Fantasy/Science Fiction worlds put into book form, a world where few humans or humanoid characters exist so McCorkle was free to let her imagination run wild and wild it ran.

The first book, Merchants of Knowledge and Magic, is about Calinthe Erytrichos, a reptilian Merchant of Knowledge, and Zakuro “Pom” Rathmusen, a Godblood, demi-god and Merchant of Magic. The duo encounter many patrons, assignments, estranged family members, and totalitarian governments as they affirm their love for each other. While the Epic Fantasy/Science Fiction setting and world building was important, at heart Merchants of Knowledge and Magic was a Road Trip Comedy-Drama/Queer Romance set in a world of living gods and anthropomorphic people.

That's what is at play with its successor, Merchants of Light and Bone. It's not a direct sequel so much as it takes place in the same universe as Merchants of Knowledge and Magic. Besides one reference to Zakuro’s family name, those characters are not featured or mentioned. 

Instead this book focuses on The Last-Scrim-Den Family of Aloutia. They consist of Amiere Lasteran, his wife, Liesle Denwall and husband, Su Scrimshander (yes they are a throuple), and their seven children. They and their children are in mourning for their deceased daughter and sister, Tawny. They also have to deal with local bully Militico Svelt whose daughter, Usana Demiu, might be getting abused. Amiere, the eponymous Merchant of Light, notices that his crystal light business is expanding and going through some troublesome changes. Su, the Merchant of Bone and a Godblood, is keeping secrets about his history, gender identity, and divine ancestry. Meanwhile, Liesle, the Merchant of Faces, goes through extreme measures to protect those that she loves including her children and spouses. 

The approach to this book is similar to Merchants of Knowledge and Magic which is a Queer Romance set in a Fantasy/Science Fiction World. It is also similar to another previous favorite book of mine, To End Every War by Raymond W. Wilkinson which was a Feminist Women's Fiction Novel set in an Epic Fantasy Occult Academia world of Dwarves, Elves, Selkies, Fairies, Giants and others. Both novels put the prosaic and ordinary plots of regular people and dropped them into fantastic settings that turned the ordinary events into extraordinary circumstances.

Whereas the focus in most Epic Fantasy or Science Fiction novels is on quests or revolution, the majority of plots in this book like the death of a child, abuse, employment concerns, and spouse's hidden lives would not be out of place in a Family Drama. It's sort of like what would happen if The Waltons, or The Dunphys from Modern Family suddenly grew fur, sprouted wings, and gained electrolyte tails. After all, it happens. 

This book is comparable to other Fantasy novels when heroes go on epic journeys, spend a night in an inn, and the innkeeper rants about his marital problems or the dictatorial government is cutting into his business. Well Merchants of Light and Bone would be about that innkeeper and how he tries to live an everyday life in a world where magic exists and characters aren't human.

In fact the one journey narrative where characters go from one place to another has the more personal goal of saving a couple of children from slavery rather than a quest to save the entire world. 

There are some magical moments to remind Readers of the fantastic world that they are in. Su goes through a mesmerizing ritual where he communicates in person with a Water God. Liesle has conversations with a dark demon. Amiere is inflicted with a curse that when angered opens his more leonine side. But those are brief moments in a novel that captures the human, or human in personality though not in appearance, spirit.

The family goes through intense grief after Tawny’s death. They respond in different ways. One child, Kohaku, withdraws into her own private world. Others become more belligerent and quarrelsome. Liesle becomes physically ill and bedridden. Amiere tries to retain a brave front but can barely suppress his darker feelings. Su is the solid rock for the rest of the family but his vulnerabilities are present. The familial reaction to grief and how realistically McCorkle writes it would not be out of place in a traditional Earthling series. That the family has animalistic characteristics is almost immaterial.

Besides the grief, abuse is an ongoing theme within the book particularly in the story of Militico and Usana. Liesle and Amiere have to contend with the fact that Militico, a former childhood friend, has taken a darker, more violent turn as an adult. They have their suspicions that the caprine Militico is abusing his adorable leporine daughter. They recognize that the signs are there but as in the world of the Readers, it's not an easy thing to prove or stop. In many heart tugging moments Usana bonds with Su, himself a child trafficking and abuse survivor. The resolution leans to the fantastic elements but when removed from that angle, the real subtext brings up questions about self-defense, justice, and protecting the innocents at all costs.

The personal conflicts and struggles intermingle with the fantasy world in unique ways. Amiere’s occupation getting overtaken by bureaucrats who care more about the bottom line and getting rich than they do about the people working there is highly relevant even if the crystals are remnants of the gods. Liesle’s desire for vengeance and spell to protect her loved ones might be a magical solution, but it could also be seen as a metaphor for trauma survivors and how the trauma comes on them like a demonic figure. The trauma can be ignored, faced, or the survivor could attack the person who caused the trauma. 

Even the questions about Su’s origins carry a lot of resonance. Liesle and Amiere love their husband as he is and formally respect his privacy but still they are curious. They observe him and pick up clues about his powers to learn who his divine parentage actually are. Even though Su identifies as male and currently uses “he/him” pronouns, there are suggestions that this wasn't always the case so even his gender identity is a question. As much as he is a sweet, even tempered nurturing third parent to the children and loving spouse to his husband and wife, Su’s identity is a mystery that neither Amiere nor Liesle can entirely avoid. In a world where people’s identities are precious and are currently being held under scrutiny because of recent executive orders, the questions and acceptance of Su’s identity is very relatable to some Readers.

Merchants of Light and Bone tells Readers that even in a Fantasy or Science Fiction novel populated with non-humans, human Readers can still recognize the relatable struggles that are similar to their own.

The Last Invention The Day Death Died by Diane Lilli; Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire by Nabraj Lama; Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly

 The Last Invention The Day Death Died by Diane Lilli; Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire by Nabraj Lama; Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

The Last Invention: The Day Death Died by Diane Lilli 

This is a short review. The full review is on LitPick.

The Last Invention is a sharp and brilliant commentary on the overabundance of technology and the potential sentience of AI. It is also an insightful and compelling character study about two sisters dealing with grief and loss while exploring their different experiences with and views on the AI. 

In the near future, MetaX Tech Guru Clive presents the first sentient AI that creates a virtual world that is as close to the real one as possible. For now, Clive needs some human guinea pigs to test and enter into the AI. One of the testers is Amanda Carducci. Amanda's son, Dylan has died and she suffers from intense grief. She quickly signs up if it means reuniting with Dylan in the AI world and shutting out the real one. Amanda's activist sister, Emily, however is outside the system trying to uncover the ulterior motives and potential harm that this new technology will bring. One sister embraces the virtual world while the other tries to save her and bring her back to the real one.

It definitely is a Science Fiction dystopian novel that says just as much about our times as it does about the near future. Clive is clearly meant to be a composite of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and especially Elon Musk, tech CEOs with a lot of money, a lot of intelligence, and a lot of ego. 

The Last Invention gives us two sisters who represent the different sides of the AI vs. Real debate. Emily represents the real world. Emily worries about the docile addicted shell that her sister is turning into and the physical torture that her body is going through. She sees that this isn't just happening to Amanda. It's happening all over. She's on the outside choosing to live a life of reality and wants to free her sister from her passive accepting prison.

Amanda represents the AI and is understandable within her grief. Who wouldn't want a do over and have a deceased loved one back, even if they aren't a completely real one? Who wouldn't want to live a better life of one's choosing? It may not be a full life but it is one that provides soothing comfort and an escape.

 It's this fascinating dichotomy in which different perspectives are given equal time that make this book memorable. It asks difficult questions about when AI hits will you submit to it or fight against it?

Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire by Nabraj Lama 

Nabraj Lama’s book Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire, is an inspirational book filled with stories to encourage Readers to work hard, prepare, be innovative, help others, and use their gifts wisely to achieve not only outward success but personal happiness.

Each story follows the same pattern: One page gives us the moral or main lesson. The next page features a short five paragraph story about someone faced with some sort of conflict, how they dealt with that problem by displaying or not displaying certain virtues and then what the results were.

One example is “Learning from the past is the beginning; applying it to shape the future is the goal.” Lama then penned a story about a wise man who was known for his sage advice and recall of the village’s history. He was challenged by a local boy about why he didn't use his wisdom to help fix current problems concerning the village now. 

The wise man changed his outlook and became more proactive towards current issues. The lesson is while it's great to study and learn about the past and research information, it's more important to use that vast knowledge to address the world around you.

Many of the stories are about people who struggled with their scholastic or career pursuits. One called “Challenge your past and prepare for your future.” A junior drafter was upset about his stagnating career. A life coach advised him to improve on what he did yesterday. The drafter focused on enhancing his daily work, improving his skills, and becoming more organized. 

Eventually, the drafter improved his position and received accolades from his employers and peers. The takeaway is there is always room for improvement and one must be humble enough to recognize those spots and work towards fixing them.

Some of these stories are similar to fairy tales because they feature two characters, one who follows a good path and the other who doesn't with the former being successful and the latter being met with misfortune. 

One such story has the lesson of “Build your identity on your own aspirations, not on societal expectations.” One of a pair of brothers embraced the conventional path forced on him by his community and family. The other was often misunderstood and seen as rebellious. He had a unique vision and his own aspirations. 

The conventional son lived a solid life but always chose the safe path, never standing out. The iconoclastic son studied in a specialized field and explored innovative ways, enhancing his unique interests. His dedication led to success not just within his community but within the nation. While convention has its merits, sometimes one has to take risks and do something different to make their mark.

Sometimes the stories don't have a happy ending. They aren't depressing in that the experience that the protagonist faced was a learning one and they can use that lesson to make better decisions in the future. But they are faced with disappointments and setbacks all the same. 

One story begins with “Avoid dwelling on trivialities to the extent that you lose sight of what's truly important.” It tells of an art master at a prestigious institution who was noted as a great instructor who inspired students to embrace their creativity. Overtime, he became absorbed in the inconsequential details of the school like itemizing expenses, managing staff behaviors, and handling administrative tasks, things that he could have delegated to others. 

Because of this, the instructor's teaching suffered and the quality of his instruction diminished. The board, noticing the decline in his teaching and classroom size, relieved him of his duties. The message is not to absorb oneself with mundane tasks that take away from the main one. Trust others to do them and keep focused.

In a true example of “experience being its own teacher,” Lama himself has a story of his own in a chapter called “Ordinary efforts do not yield extraordinary results.” Lama explained how he worked on his manuscript for years. He edited and rejected his book and received nothing but rejection. Undaunted, he sought advice from other authors, colleagues, peers, writer's guides, and Readers. He took their advice and made his writing clear and precise. 

Lama wrote articles on the Internet and received different perspectives that gave him a sharper focus on his work. Within two months, Lama's book had greatly improved with collective wisdom and a refined purpose. The publishers recognized the effort and the book was accepted. This story reminds us to never be afraid to reach out and ask for advice, even refine our approach and voice, to truly make a lasting impact and success.

Echoes of Resilience is a lovely and compassionate book that reminds us that everyone has a story in which they struggled. They may have succeeded and they might not have. But they always learned something.

Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly 

Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly is an intriguing captivating book about a protagonist who thinks that she knows everything until she is put into a situation where she realizes that she knows absolutely nothing.

Awhina Fernandez, who sometimes goes by the name Athena, is a woman of great intelligence, plenty to say, and a large ego. She does not get along with her indifferent father and her intrusive mother, the latter of whom she calls, “The T-Rex.” She's a Cambridge student who majors in astrophysics. After graduation and before she begins her PhD studies, Awhina goes with her mother on a cruise around Indonesia and is cast asea during a diving mishap in the Straits of Sundabang. She finds herself stranded in West Papua and is caught in between two warring tribes, the Walukek and Suamu. She has to find the inner strength and resilience to survive in a world where her intelligence and education don't mean anything. 

Cooee Baby has an interesting premise with a protagonist who is not always likeable. Awhina is the worst kind of academic who is fixated, insufferable, and extremely arrogant. 

While a student, she brags about her arguments with her professors where she insists that she's right and everyone else is an idiot. She has self-deprecating moments concerning her name which is often mispronounced and her appearance which some think of as Polynesian and makes her stand out. She sets herself higher than everyone around her so she has few friends and lovers. She insults everyone around her in a way that is not self-aware but is instead ingratiating.

 Granted, Awhina is diagnosed with Asperger's and she marks the symptoms point by point but it doesn't help make her beyond a character sketch of those symptoms without giving her depth beyond them. At times, this Reader wanted her to shut up.

Awhina comes into her own when she is stranded in West Papua. There are comic scenes where since she doesn't speak the language, she uses cultural references and a variety of movements like the haka to communicate with the tribes. She displays some creativity and survival instincts to think on her feet. She bonds with many of the people on the island such as a visiting anthropologist and a female villager, the latter of whom almost becomes a love interest.

Awhina also becomes aware that her actions have consequences. She plays the part of a mythological figure from their legends and gets off on their worship and obedience to her every word. She is told that this is a dangerous move because they might respect her when things are great but will turn against her when things go wrong. She pays no heed to that warning until it happens and she is put into danger. It becomes a huge blow to an ego that needed to get a little bruised before she learned something. It is through this experience that she becomes a better, more enlightened person who learns through failure as much as success.

The ending somewhat drags as Awhina deals with the instant fame that her story brings. At times, she falls back to some of her earlier character flaws but she also acts as a bridge between the person that she was to the person that she becomes.

How We Were Before by Jonathan Kravetz; Anatomy of a Murder, Origins, and Aftereffects

 How We Were Before by Jonathan Kravetz; Anatomy of a Murder, Origins, and Aftereffects 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: In my review of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, I referred to it as a “whatdunnit,” as compared to a “whodunnit.” Instead of figuring out who committed a murder, the emphasis is on the murder and its aftereffects. We may already know who did the murder. Instead the real question is “something violent happened so what are you going to do about it?” 

Jonathan Kravetz’s anthologized novel, How We Were Before is another great example of a “whatdunnit.” It is a Crime Novel with a murder at the beginning and deals with how it impacted multiple characters. 

Elderly couple, Pete and Tara  Blythe, are murdered by Billy Lawson who is arrested, tried, and found guilty. The aftereffects are felt by multiple characters in different chapters. 

The present situations involving the characters alternate with flashbacks that focus on the pair’s lives from their meeting to their deaths at Billy’s hands. 

The narrative challenges the Reader with its complex and intricate storytelling and characterization. It is a testament to Kravetz’s writing skills that he gathers such a large cast and makes each character rich and complete. In each chapter, he recalls the murder and its effect in ways that are fresh and unique every time instead of becoming tedious and repetitive. To accomplish this, he pulls some interesting narrative techniques to engage the Reader in the character’s conflicts stemming from the murder and within their own lives. 

A perfect example of the complexities in this book can be found within the chapters that involve Police Chief Tim Pearson. His dereliction of duty and inactivity towards Billy Lawson’s escalating behavior ended up becoming key factors in the eventual murder. He is later revealed to have had a more personal involvement in the Blythe’s lives and later did and said the wrong thing to the wrong person.The fallout is seen through the eyes of his young son, Louis as Pearson engages in alcoholism and abuse to cope with his own failings and remorse. Louis’ home life becomes more tempestuous to the point that he steals a gun for protection. It takes several chapters and other characters’ points of view before Pearson’s story ends in a violent but inevitable conclusion. 

The aftermath of the murder and public trial are effectively felt by those most prominently affected by it: The Blythe’s daughters, Shelby and Samantha and Billy’s mother, Peggy. Shelby tries to overcome her aching loneliness and grief by finding romantic partners and trying to escape into romantic fantasies. She also begins writing to Billy to understand her own feelings towards him and maybe potentially find a path to forgiveness. Samantha’s journey is much more aggressive and upfront. She tries to maintain a public facade while her marriage is crumbling. She and her husband Carlton are filled with buried rage and simmering resentment that threatens to explode into more violence. 

Peggy Lawson’s story is no less tragic. As the mother of the perpetrator, she has to not only contend with knowing about and fearing her son’s behavior but also being painted as the villain in the story. She withdraws into alcoholism and seclusion only to find that seclusion broken in the worst way by someone who takes advantage of her fragile state. 

The book alternates the present with the past by showing important moments in Pete and Tara’s lives. We see their idyllic meeting and early courtship. We see their troubled marriage and complicated relationship with their daughters and of course we see their inevitable demise. Kravetz writes them as complicated multilayered people filled with many flaws and virtues whose loss becomes even more felt the more that the Reader gets to know them. 

Similarly we also peer into Billy’s character. The book does not absolve him of the murders and he certainly deserves punishment but he is also written as multilayered and thought provoking as the rest of the cast. He is seen as a very troubled young man with very few advantages and an addiction that he can’t control. The moments where he shows his vulnerabilities and self-awareness reveal him as someone who knows what he did and accepts that he will spend the rest of his life paying for it. 

This book doesn’t just feature the people who are immediately involved in either the Blythe’s or Billy’s lives. There are many characters who have a peripheral involvement in the murder but still have their lives greatly affected and altered by it. Vice Principal Zachary Rivers desperately tries to save the life of Barry, one of Billy’s high school friends. Ballet instructor Wendy Watson’s relationships with her students, particularly Shelby Blythe, propel her into a troubled romance. Janey, a homeless woman, develops an unhealthy obsession with Samantha Blythe. Adam Liu, Louis Pearson’s best friend has a front row seat to the implosion of his friend’s family. Matt Foster and Emilia Stone, two reporters covering the murder and trial, get up close and personal to some of the participants and so on.

How We Were Before shows that two lives weren’t the only ones destroyed that night. The murder carried a ripple effect that impacted the lives of many others and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

New Book Alert: For All of Us by Jillian Rose; Reincarnation Romance is Centered by Spiritual Connection and Meaningful Characterization

 

New Book Alert: For All of Us by Jillian Rose; Reincarnation Romance is Centered by Spiritual Connection and Meaningful Characterization

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

This book is also reviewed on Reedsy Discovery 

Spoilers: Here's a theme from two years ago: reincarnated lovers reunited in modern day, reveling in their timeless love and weighing whether they should be together in the current timeline. This time, it is captured by Jillian Rose in her Romance/Magical Realism novel, For All of Us. Technically, Rose’s version is nothing new, but it is a spiritually centered and captivating character driven novel. I suppose like its lovers, the theme itself is timeless, that love never dies and that there may be some existence beyond physical death.

Cora is a Yoga instructor, seemingly happily married to Emerson, an architect. She is assigned by Emerson’s partner, Natasha, to teach at the Catskills Retreat Center to encourage creativity and unity among their co-workers. Neither Emerson nor Natasha can come but Cora is sure that she can handle it. While there, she meets the participants in the class and the Retreat staff, particularly its owner, Kai. As she spends time with Kai, she begins to feel an emotional and spiritual connection that causes her to evaluate her marriage and realize that there are things that were unsaid and unacknowledged between her and Emerson. While this is going on, there is another story set in the early 20th Century about a couple named Juliette and Asher who fall in love and have a child, Pearl, before going through a devastating loss. In the present, Cora and Kai share memories of Juliette and Asher, further complicating their relationships both past and present.

There are some moments where the Reader feels a sense of spiritual calm. The chapters at the Retreat are filled with moments like these. Cora and Kai take walks in the woods and mountains and their senses are activated by the nature surrounding them. Cora’s classes are lessons in poses as well as mindfulness and transcendence.

These classes and her time at the Retreat benefits her as well as her students. Cora and Emerson suffered tremendous loss in their life, one that they don't talk about but causes a strain in their marriage. They keep the pain and sadness locked away and never acknowledge it. But the more that they don't talk about it, the more it pulls on them revealing the fractures between their happy facade. It is only in the safety of the Retreat and communicating with Kai that Cora finds the catharsis and emotional release that she needed. 

It also is at the Retreat in which Cora and Kai awaken their past life memories as Juliette and Asher. Now I will admit that while I don't necessarily dislike reincarnated lovers tropes, I have however seen times when it is done badly. Bram Stoker’s Dracula for example. Just because they were lovers in one life does not mean that they are entitled to be together in the current one. Let's not forget about things like consent and they may already be in a loving relationship. Where many people saw Gary Oldman speaking passionately about “crossing oceans of time,” I just saw a sexual predator who raped, assaulted, and brutalized a woman that he felt entitled to have because she resembled his dead wife.

I have also seen reincarnated lovers as a trope done with the theme that just because you were happy in one life or thought that you were, doesn't mean that you really were or guaranteed to be in the current one. Nikki Broadwell’s novel, Rosemary for Remembrance is a brilliant take on that in which a married couple live simultaneous lives in the 19th and mid-20th century and get all the baggage that comes with it including the arguments, infidelity, incompatible personalities, separations, trauma and so on. 

Actually Rose’s novel contains that as well when both Cora and Juliette suffer similar deaths in their lives. Those simultaneous moments of grief, anguish, and the aftermath on how both women and the men in their lives deal with the tragedies in different ways are some of the highlights.

What saves For All of Us from falling into the simplistic style of reincarnated lovers done badly is that Jillian Rose does not shy away from the actual consequences that occur when the lovers are reunited. If they are in another relationship, someone is going to get hurt. Also just because they resemble that person and share those memories doesn't mean that they necessarily are that specific identity. They are an entirely different person with different current memories, have been through different experiences, and have a different personality than the one who went on before.

For All of Us knows about this conflict because exploring Cora’s complex feelings towards Kai and Emerson. It's not a binary “either or” choice. They are both great guys. While yes she recognizes that there are unspoken cracks in her marriage, that doesn't make Emerson an irredeemable monster, just a flawed human being. One that acknowledges those flaws and is willing to work on them. 

What helps this particular version is the care that Rose shows all parties in this situation: Cora, Kai, Emerson, and even Natasha who is also affected by these events (and of course Juliette and Asher). They are well written with no direct protagonist/antagonist conflict. They also strive to be their most honest authentic selves in their relationships and finally reach that point with each other. They are paired not just by passion, love, or previous memories but by that honesty and authenticity.

New Book Alert: Joy: The Art of Making Tofu An Autobiography by Simon Boreham; Heartwarming and Heartbreaking Book of Love, Loss, Grief, Joy, and Tofu

New Book Alert: Joy: The Art of Making Tofu An Autobiography by Simon Boreham; Heartwarming and Heartbreaking Book of Love, Loss, Grief, Joy, and Tofu

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

 Simon Boreham's memoirs, Joy: The Art of Making Tofu: An Autobiography is a lovely, moving, and heartbreaking and heartwarming book about Boreham's 59 year marriage to his wife, Dawn and her death in 2021. 

The book begins shortly after Dawn's death as Boreham wrote his memoirs. Even from the beginning, he wrote of the aching memories of going through a house and the things that he and Dawn once shared and suddenly carried many beautiful and painful memories. The white-framed mirror that was her favorite. The porcelain vase with a crack that they bought at their Greystones home in Torquay. The handbag that she took to the hospital. All things under normal circumstances might have been overlooked and ignored that now carry significance and emotional weight. This chapter alone carries Boreham's grief, sadness, and his loving happy memories in a few short pages.

Boreham recounts Dawn's death with her hospitalization from angina and the painful seemingly endless waiting with their children, Catherine and Jason especially because they couldn't be in the hospital room with her because of the pandemic. Boreham combines this with other memories such as when he and Dawn entered the restaurant business in the 1970's and '80's and when he wrote a poem called "The Crying Man." This effect of going from one memory to another even at one point switching the point of view to the second person talking specifically to Dawn is how a person's mind works when it goes through deep stress and grief. It flickers from one memory to another when the current situation becomes too painful and wanting the person to still be there. 

Boreham keeps his and Dawn's years alive through great recall and detail. He talks about his middle class upbringing with his parents, Sybil and Mike, moving through several countries because of his father's career at Barclays Bank. Sybil and Mike eventually settled in the U.K. in 1959 until her death from cancer in 1976. Their happy but doting marriage was a detriment because as Dawn pointed out, she couldn't live up to their expectations for their son so they rarely visited the couple. In fact after Sybil's death, Mike fell apart and moved to South Africa. Boreham writes them as a couple insulated by their reserve and love for each other and their son. It was admirable because it gave Boreham an example of a happy marriage, but they were still standoffish towards Dawn.

Boreham captures his childhood with multiple senses and delightful memories such as the various books that he and his mother read together, Sybil's perfume, his grandparent's tomato garden, Boreham's crush on Disney's Snow White, and his father carrying him after a dog bit him. He also writes about his time in a boarding school that was structured with rules, upperclassmen who teased the younger ones, and a few loyal friends. These memories depict a man with a nice childhood and sometimes difficult youth that filled him with knowledge, thoughts, encouragement, and security. Things that he aspired towards in his marriage. In fact, his main act of rebellion was moving to Canada in the early 60's only to return to a steady life.

In contrast, Dawn was a very opinionated young lady. The second of three children, she was considered her father's favorite. As compared to Boreham's parents, Dawn's parents got along with her husband. In fact, Boreham thought of his mother-in-law Elizabeth as a second mother. Elizabeth, called "Dizzy Lizzy," was something of a character who responded to her son in law's poems with letters decorated with matchstick cartoon characters. She actually had an affair with Boreham's father which continued after both their spouses died. While Boreham and Dawn outwardly supported it, they still felt uncomfortable. While not outright stated, Elizabeth's open hearted eccentric personality may have inspired her daughter's outspoken unconventional nature 

Instead of the private school upbringing of her husband, Dawn attended a Catholic state school. When a nun constantly berated her, Dawn pulled her wimple off. When her sister saw cane marks on Dawn's legs, she and her younger brother were pulled out of that school. This showed Dawn as the type of woman who was more forward in her personality than her reserved husband. It was a strange attraction of opposites that proved compatible for over five decades of marital happiness.

In 1962, Boreham met Dawn while he was working in the hospitality industry and she was a hotel receptionist. He remembered what she wore and where they went those passionate first weeks before he left on a misadventure in Germany. He returned to England and Dawn began a love affair that lasted 59 years.

He remembers Dawn being the type who initiated the emotional response, but letting Boreham think he was leading her. When he kissed her during their dating, Boreham realized that Dawn expected and wanted him to.

Dawn's spirit comes alive in her widower's writing. She was high spirited, sociable, outspoken, intuitive, strong willed, outgoing, and joyful. She loved jazz, dancing, flowers, experimental cooking, and occasionally horse betting, and drinking single malts while quoting Robert Burns. This is told by a man who is still in love with his wife even after she left this world. The sharp grief may recede and be pushed back at times but he will always remember who she was and what she meant to him.

The Boreham's experiences in parenthood contain moments of humor like when their son Jason swallowed a cupboard key and anxiety like when he had fragile health and needed heart and kidney operations during his infancy. Many parents would relate to these situations.The Boreham parents were able to pass their tremendous love for each other to their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Besides the Boreham's marriage, this book is about their experience in the food business. Like many entrepreneurs, it took some time for the duo to find their niche. They went from a high-spend fish restaurant, to a steak and fish place. In 1989, two years after Boreham was let go of his job they purchased Dragonfly, an organic whole food manufacturing business. 

Their specialty was tofu which at the time was not widely made and sold except in family owned shops in Asia. The duo learned the hard way about the difficulties of making food by themselves without a factory and personnel. They found themselves quite busy making and delivering food only taking off for two weeks between Christmas and New Year's.

Boreham also writes of the toll that starting their own business worked on their marriage especially between two obstinate individuals who believed that they knew what was best. This is evident when after an argument, Dawn, fed up with her husband's high handedness, engaged in a one-woman strike and walkout leaving her husband to finish the clean up. After that he learned to accommodate her personality to his and that her solutions might be different but they weren't always wrong. Their time running Dragonfly helped strengthen their relationship by working towards a goal and implementing their diverse personalities to the end product.

Naturally the final chapters are filled with moments that tug at even the most immovable heart strings. Little moments are captured such as when they bought an antique turquoise pot that was too big to fit anywhere but Dawn just wanted to buy it anyway because the colors represented meaning and life. A pot that would eventually become the funeral urn to carry Dawn's ashes and was big enough to also hold the ashes of their late dog and Boreham when his time comes to be with them. Talk about meaning.

In the end, Boreham writes through his grief in keeping his wife's memory alive but still enjoying the life that he still has. He still can enjoy writing, and bonding with his children, grandchildren and great granddaughter, studying Eastern philosophy and other uplifting sources, and finding joy and happiness around him.

While Joy: The Art of Making Tofu is a sad book about grief and loss, it is also funny and moving as it tells of the memories of a happy marriage, and to find joy in not only those times but the remaining time that we have left.

Weekly Reader: The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber Logan; Haunting Beautiful Novel About Grief and Ghosts in Japan

 Weekly Reader: The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber Logan; Haunting Beautiful Novel About Grief and Ghosts in Japan

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Similar to Simone Doucet's book Wicked Bleu, Amber A. Logan's novel The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn is a haunting novel about a ghost with a dark tale, an emotional female protagonist, and has a beautiful setting which adds to the spooky and spiritual atmosphere. But Wicked Bleu concentrates more on the horror aspects of ghostly possession and a woman tortured by racism and misogyny in her life and can only achieve power in the afterlife. All of this is surrounded by the Gothic and eeriness of New Orleans.

While there are some creepy moments in The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn, the overall tone of the book is more beautiful than scary, with characters that are more haunted by their own emotions than by the ghosts around them. It is also set in Japan which provides a certain enchanted feel to the book because of the natural and supernatural aspects. It's more similar to a Studio Ghibli anime film than a Gothic horror tale.

Mari Lennox is a professional photographer who is grieving after the death of her mother. She is given an assignment to take pictures of Yanagi Inn, an inn in Japan near where Mari and her sister, Risa grew up while their father was an American businessman in Japan. They lived in Japan until their parent's divorce and their mother returned to the U.S. with her daughters.

Reconnecting herself to the country and language of her childhood, Mari becomes acquainted with Yanagi's staff including the gruff housekeeper, Ogura, the spirited teenage maid, Yuna, and the reserved elegant owner, Kishi. 

While taking pictures of the grounds, Mari sees an abandoned garden and has visions of how it looked when it was full and beautiful. It's like she knows that place, like she had been there before. She also feels a close connection to a crane who constantly seems to wait for her.

Also in her room, she hears a soft disembodied crying. The crying voice eventually takes the form of Suzu, a ghost girl. Mari befriends her but is consumed by curiosity. Who was Suzu?.How did she die? What is her connection to the garden? It seems that she recognizes Mari but how? Mari doesn't know her. Or does she?

There is something haunting and wistful about this book, starting with the setting. Logan clearly loves the Japanese setting. Mari feels a familiar connection that even though she isn't Japanese in her descent, recognizes it as a place that held many of her childhood memories. Her returning to Japan after suffering tremendous loss is similar to returning home, to a place that makes her feel safe and comfortable, and gives her a respite. To her it's a place to return to when she is hurting, wounded, and needs to heal.

The highlight of the book's setting is the garden outside Yanagi Inn. When Mari sees the overgrown hedges and the now disorganized path, she sees little patches of beauty and can almost see the garden as it once was. As she talks to Suzu, Mari promises that she will restore the garden to its beauty for as long as she remains at Yanagi. Restoring the garden gives Mari a sense of purpose and connects her to the spirituality of the nature around her. 

The plot of a garden reviving damaged and broken souls has been explored before, most prominently in Frances Hodgson Burnett's book The Secret Garden. In her Acknowledgements, Logan cites Burnett's classic as an inspiration, even contributing to the title of this book. It's easy to see why.

 The garden that Mari and Honda work on has an almost magical way of healing the various characters' pain, particularly Mari's.

The garden is a metaphor for Mari's grief. At first it is dead as she processes the death of her mother. She recalls flashbacks of her time with her mom and Risa and regrets many of the things that she did and said to them. 

As she restores the grounds and brings life to the landscape, she herself comes back to life. Her grief is still present but is able to be moved aside as she sees others that are hurting. The garden not only heals herself but others as well.

The Japanese setting not only connects the characters to the natural world but also to the spiritual as well. Of course, the garden has a meditative appeal with the geometric patterns, bridges, and plants that are meant to soothe the mind and body.

The Crane appears at the inn and around the garden as if to comfort or encourage Mari on her path. In Japanese legends, cranes are symbols of peace, luck, prosperity, and longevity. The Crane brings peace to Mari's mind and lets her know that she is taking the right path in her life.

Above all, the appearance of Suzu, the ghost girl, is a more abstract concept than is often found in many Western based books about the spirit world. She isn't meant to scare, though there are a few times where she gets possessive and angry. 

There are some questions of what she actually is the ghost of a human that died, some otherworldly spirit, or a manifestation of grief and guilt. It's less concrete than most portrayals of ghosts and the book is all the better for it.

Instead of terror, there is an aura of sadness about her like she's reaching out for something or someone. When her true nature is revealed, her appearance comes not from the usual place of a being that died, came back, scares the living, and needs to move on to the next world. Instead, she inhabits the internal feelings and emotions of the living characters around her. Suzu allows them to bring that grief and guilt forward and helps them move on from themselves.

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn is a healing and meditative book that beautifully uses the setting of the natural and supernatural worlds to bring healing to the characters and maybe to the Reader.