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The Illluminator, by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

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Published 2005

The story takes place in England in the late 14th century. John Wycliff is at Oxford but his ideas about bringing the gospel to the largely illiterate population soon oust him from his position as master of Balliol College. Wycliff believes, along with other prominent voices, that the Catholic church has become corrupt. Priests and even the Pope have mistresses and children, say prayers for payments from rich and poor alike. Finn the illuminator makes his living embellishing holy works but is also involved in doing the same for secret English translations. At at time when England is divided over loyalty to young King Richard and the church’s wealth and power are without rival, to be caught with these papers could mean death.

Lady Katherine is the widow of a man whom she does not mourn, but she does have two sons by him who are to inherit Blackingham Manor if she can keep it for them until they reach maturity. She gives a visiting priest her mother’s pearl necklace as tithe but struggles to come up with the king’s taxes. Beset on all sides by men who know she has little power she agrees to take in Finn and his daughter to appease the Bishop. This, she hopes, will bring her protection of a sort from a powerful ally. But almost immediately the priest who took the pearls is found murdered and Finn is accused and arrested.

If you ever despair of the state the world is in today, read this book and realize how very much worse it was a thousand years ago. Everyone was at the mercy of the church and royalty jousted for power with each other, betting their wealth and their lives on who could seize power.

Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult

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Published 2021

Interesting fairly recent book about a couple living in New York City just as the coronavirus pandemic breaks out. Diana and her fiance, Finn, are almost ready to leave on their vacation to the Galapagos Islands when the virus hits. Finn is a resident at the hospital, so at the last moment he can’t go, he is needed at work, but urges Diana to go without him, the trip is non-refundable. Diana has just been laid off from Sotheby’s, where she had almost secured the auction of a hugely famous work by Toulouse-Lautrec, which would’ve boosted her career by leaps and bounds, but the sale was put on hold due to the impending pandemic. Against her better judgement she goes ahead, and arrives at the island where they had planned to stay just as everything shuts down. the hotel is closed, there is no transportation, she can’t leave and even if she could, there are no flights back to New York. A woman who works at the hotel gives her a tiny apartment in back of her house to stay in. Her luggage was lost so she has only what she managed to bring with her on the plane. Over the next few weeks she meets a teenage girl and her father and spends time with them, hiking, swimming and exploring the island in an effort to salvage her vacation. Cell phone service is almost non-existent and the internet is only available in the hotel, which is closed. Diana is sending postcards back to Finn, and receiving some emails sporadically but is essentially cut off from civilization. Which is both a good thing and a bad one, since there is no virus on the island and with no traffic coming in or out, the chances of infection are minimal. One message that does come through is that her mother, from whom she is for the most part estranged, has died in the nursing home she is living in. Diana has never been close to her mom, she was a journalistic photographer traveling the globe to take her award winning photos instead of staying home with her family. Life goes on in this way for several weeks and then……Diana wakes up in the hospital back in New York, the same hospital where Finn works, and is on a ventilator. She has almost died from coronavirus, and unlike most of those who reach the stage of ventilation, she slowly recovers. But what she can’t seem to get over is the very real experience of her time on the Galapagos Islands. She begins to research what her shrink is calling a near death experience and finds many others who experience life-like realities just as she did. While she recovers back at their apartment, she learns that her mother has not died and she manages to visit with her on her little screened porch, Diana on the outside and her mother on the inside, since visitors are not allowed due to the risk of infection.

So it appears in this book that Diana has decided the experiences with the people in the Galapagos were real, in spite of what everyone else thinks about it. I can for the most part accept that, but what about her body? Even if it were true that she really did go to Galapagos and meet these people, how would they have been able to be aware of her? There is no denying that her body was inside a ventilator in the hospital in New York, I’m sure the staff would’ve noticed if weren’t there. That part I can’t quite figure out, maybe you can if you read the book. A good choice

Henry, Himself by Stewart O’nan

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Published 2019

I am glad to discover this writer of such a quiet little story, about the Maxwell family of Pittsburgh. Henry was named for his mother’s brother who was killed in the war before Henry was born. the name therefore seems in a way used to him and he would’ve preferred to be called Hank. But Henry he is and will be it seems.

Henry is retired now, and he and his wife Emily joke about when he is gone and she left by herself except for their dog, Rufus. Having read it I wonder who is going to do all of the little things around the house, not to mention the old cabin at Chataqua, when he is gone. Who will wash the dishes, a chore that Henry prides himself on every evening. Various ailments come and go, a fall becomes potentially dangerous, the kids and grandkids provide drama in their settled lives. Where to go for dinner is a bigger decision than you might think at this stage of life.

I loved how the little things have become the central focus which is described so clearly I felt I was part of the clan. Now I look forward to reading more of these novels and seeing what is happening with the family.

The End of October, by Lawrence Wright

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Published 2020

Henry Parsons, who works for the CDC in Atlanta, goes to a conference of health officials in Geneva, where one of the last speakers informs the participants of a ‘hemorrhagic fever that kills forty-seven people in one week and disappears without a trace’. It occurs in a refugee camp in Indonesia called Kongoli Number Two Camp, in the first week of March. Everyone else simply chalks it up as a one off event to be filed away for future reference. Henry begins asking questions and because no one has investigated, he is asked to go for two days, get samples from the camp, and be on his way home.

This begins the pandemic that threatens to end civilization as we know it. The flu is so highly contagious and deadly that there is no treatment and the only possible way to control it is strict containment. Unfortunately, the driver who takes Henry to the camp site in West Java leaves immediately after visiting the camp for Mecca, where millions gather at the Rock to pray and where infection is uncontrollable, especially when the pilgrims leave for their home countries all over the world. Henry’s family, wife Jill, daughter Helen and son Teddy spend some time at Jill’s sister’s farm outside Nashville, avoiding crowds and the cities until the first wave dies down, but then return to their home. Henry is quarantined in Mecca until war breaks out and he makes a run for it with the help of a friend, a doctor there whom he has known for decades, but who is also a member of the royal family.

As civilization breaks down, Henry tries desperately to get home to his family, who are trying to cope with the catastrophe without him.

A gripping tale, and the publishing date is most interesting, since the Pandemic we recently went through had already started. Obviously, Mr. Wright began this book much earlier, but it still resonates with something that could’ve been much worse.

Miss Julia Takes Over, by Ann B. Ross

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Published 2001

Another in the series by Ann Ross, about fiesty Miss Julia, who has the unlikely, but charming, history of taking in her late husband’s mistress and her son, the product of his years long affair, of which she was entirely unaware until they both appeared on her doorstep after his demise. In this tale, Hazel Marie, the former mistress, has gone missing after a date with a man from out of town who is doing some professional fund raising for the Presbyterian church which sits conveniently right across the street from Miss J’s house in Abbottsville. Miss Julia reports this to the police but they seem unconcerned, thinking they are both adults and just off on a good time. Miss Julia knows better and when Hazel Marie calls but is disconnected during the conversation, she is convinced she is being held against her will. Miss Julia engages the services of a private investigator, but insists that she and Little Lloyd (named after her late husband, of course) go along. They meet up with race truck drivers and Miss Julia even takes a lap on a race track in her efforts to get Hazel Marie back. To add insult to injury, Hazel Marie’s Bible thumping TV evangelist uncle has accused her of neglect in her care for the boy which Miss Julia knows is entirely untrue and is just another scheme to get his hands on the fortune Little Lloyd inherited from his father.

I love this series, it’s lighthearted and full of southern lady wisdom and charm. Might not be for northerners but many of the characters are easily identifiable by anyone born and bred in the south.

The Way of the World, by Ron Suskind

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A story of truth and hope in an age of extremism

Published 2008

This book by the journalist Ron Suskind goes into the aftermath of 9/11 and the reasons for going to war in Iraq. Mr. Suskind investigates many of the claims of the Bush administration and the result does not inspire confidence in the former administration’s ability to tell the truth, not only to the American people, but even to themselves. Time and again, the evidence is shown to be faulty or down right wrong and those who speak up are silenced, not permanently, but merely brushed aside or told that ‘that is not what we need to hear’. We all know how it goes these days. Those not towing the line are ‘not team players’, are not cooperative, or ‘difficult to work with’. Suskind tries to bring some hopefulness to the situation by weaving in profiles of two young Muslim men who are living in the United States, and shows how the Americans who come to know them embrace them not as radicals but as human beings, friends and co-workers. One is a teenager who is in the US as an exchange student and the other is working in DC, right across from the White House. Their stories are quite interesting. The younger man, much more representative of his nation, has almost insurmountable issues with the roles of men and women in the US, he is fascinated with pornography. The older one is well educated with a good job and has assimilated to the American way of life but is profiled by White House security, interrogated and later released. Add to all of this the story of one detainee at Gitmo and the lawyer who tries to work on his behalf for his release.

Still, the book sheds a light on how governments twist the truth into a narrative that fits their world view. Which is pretty much what we all do to some extent. In this case though, men and women died, on both sides of the issue, as a result. Looking at where things stand today in the region is a lesson in humility. I would recommend reading when in a fairly positive state of mind because by the end you may find yourself a bit downcast, I know I did.