Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath

‘She should have snatched up her walking shoes before she fled, but she hadn’t wanted to stay in that house a second longer. Another mistake to add to the list.’

Six people head off for a weekend at a house on the mountains in regional New South Wales, but fewer than six return. Who was killed, and why?

Three couples are involved: four of the six have been friends since school, the other two have married two of the friends. The weekend is meant to be free of stress, of phones and internet: a time for drinking and bushwalking. And then, on the first night, someone mentions partner-swapping. The suggestion may have started as a joke, but somehow gains acceptance. Agreement is reached: the three men will each select a bedroom, the three women will randomly pick a room. And, because no-one will know (for sure) who they slept with (no talking and the room will remain in darkness) there won’t be any awkwardness.  What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty, as it turns out. One person is missing, and then a body is found. This is just the beginning. Mr Heath twists the story in so many directions that I had difficulty keeping up. Yes, there are several red herrings to distract the reader. And what about motivation?

Senior Constable Kiara Lui interviews the survivors and tries to make sense of the case. Two weeks later, she and her girlfriend Elise travel to the same house. Part romantic getaway (she hopes) and part investigation as Kiara Lui is keen to try to solve the case. It’s probably never a good idea to mix business and pleasure: Kaira’s relationship is already in difficulty, and events at the house don’t help.

But can she solve the case? And who is the killer?

I suspended all my disbelief and thoroughly enjoyed this twisty tale. Yes, I did eventually work out some of the answers, but I had to work hard.

A terrific read.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Book 3 of 20 Books of Summer Winter

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind (Translated by John E. Woods)

‘In eighteenth century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.’

This is the second time I have read this book but the first time I’ve attempted to review it.  Mr Süskind drew me deep into a world centred around smell. Yes: what we smell, what we smell like, the components of scent and the impacts of scent. An olfactory overload.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was born in a Parisian slum. While he has no discernible scent, he is gifted with an incredible sense of smell. We follow him on his journey through life, through hardship and largely being invisible (and certainly unimportant) to those around him. Grenouille apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer from whom he learns the art of mixing oils and herbs. Grenouille learns quickly and is driven to try to capture the scents of every item.

After a long period of self-exile, experimentation leads to murder. Grenouille is driven to create the ‘ultimate perfume’—the scent of a beautiful young virgin.

This is a clever novel: a gothic gallimaufry of crime, depravity, horror and history. And the ending? Surprisingly appropriate.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Pretend I’m Not Here by Barbara Feinman Todd

‘So there it is, my life in an eggshell: my desire to be a writer, my desire to please, my complicity in my own disappearance, and my meek protest against that very fact.’

I picked up this book to meet one of the categories for a reading challenge I am participating in. Yes, I was looking for a book written by a ghost writer, and Barbara Feinman Todd certainly fits the bill. Yes, she was Hillary Clinton’s ghost writer for ‘It Takes a Village’. She also worked with Bob Woodward, first as a research assistant and then researching ‘Veil’, his book on the CIA. While I’ve read both books, I have not read two other books she assisted with: Carl Bernstein’s ‘Loyalties’ or Ben Bradlee’s A Good Life’.

Here in Australia, I was unaware that ‘Feinman Todd’s involvement with Mrs. Clinton made headlines when the First Lady neglected to acknowledge her role in the book’s creation, and later, when a disclosure to Woodward about the Clinton White House appeared in one of his books.’. But I can imagine how these events (especially the disclosure to Woodward) haunted Ms Feinman Todd. Discretion is surely paramount for ghost writers.

Ms Feinman Todd wanted to write novels but realised that she had a better chance of earning an income as a ghost writer. A realistic, but I imagine difficult, decision.

‘But I had built up a solid reputation as a book doctor, and this town would never have a shortage of people who wanted to “author” books but couldn’t or didn’t want to write them themselves. I had to make a living. It wasn’t realistic to think I could do that by writing novels, even if I managed to get one published.

Was it time to make my peace with being a “craftswoman” as Hanan so kindly put it? What did it mean that I had gravitated to work that required —or allowed? —me to be silent and invisible?

Was it really so different from the fiction I longed to write?

Was it time to give up on my fiction, even my own voice, and be grateful for what I had: a steady income and a comfortable life?’

For me, Ms Feinman Todd comes across as an observant and thorough researcher, as a thoughtful writer who was trying to find her place in a world full of urgency, egos, and testosterone.

Barbara Feinman Todd retired in 2017 after twenty-five years of teaching at Georgetown University.

‘Until the lion has a historian’ goes the adage, ‘the hunter will always be the hero.’

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Book 16 in my 2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. I’ve entered as a ‘Nonfiction Grazer’ and this book should be included under the heading of ‘Memoir/Biography’.

Moroccan Traffic (Johnson Johnson #7) by Dorothy Dunnett

‘Bifocal spectacles!’ shouted my mother, coughing heavily over her daisy-wheel printer. ‘Now my daughter wastes her time on some self-employed painter with no index-linked company pension?’

In addition to her brilliant historical fiction, Dorothy Dunnett also wrote mysteries. And, while I do not enjoy these mysteries as much as the historical fiction, they are worth reading, ‘Moroccan Traffic’ (originally published in 1991, but since reissued) was the last of the seven books in the Johnson Johnson series. Lady Dunnett had plans to write another after the completion of the House of Niccolo series, but sadly her death in 2001 intervened.  

In this fast-paced mystery, Executive Secretary Wendy Helmann and her mother Doris become caught up in a series of events after a bomb explodes in the office of Wendy’s employer, Kingsley Conglomerates. Johnson Johnson (JJ for short), who has been engaged to paint a portrait of Sir Robert Kingsley, also becomes involved.

Late 1980s Morocco becomes the setting after the explosion, as Sir Robert is trying to arrange a takeover. There are plenty of characters (some more likeable than others), more than enough action to keep the reader occupied (yes, like some of the suspend-your-disbelief set pieces in Lady Dunnett’s historical fiction) and, for those of us old enough to remember the 1980s, reminders that the internet and smartphones did not always rule the world.

This is the second time I have read the novel. This time I read it with a group, which really helped me make more sense of some of the more puzzling parts. Yes, the JJ mysteries can be read as a standalone but as JJ himself is as much a mystery as the various stories he becomes involved in, I’d recommend reading them all.

Plenty of action, and for some of us, plenty of nostalgia as well.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann, translated by John E. Woods

‘I feel as if something is slipping away, as if I no longer hold it as firmly in my grasp as before.’

Two German born friends have recommended ‘Buddenbrooks’ to me, and I bought a copy way back in 2015. But when a third German friend mentioned he was reading (or rereading) Thomas Mann, I finally started reading. I also have a copy of ‘The Magic Mountain’ lurking around somewhere.

The novel opens in 1835, at a formal Buddenbrook family dinner. Patriarch Johann Buddenbrook is joined by his family and friends, including the town’s doctor, a German poet, a senator as well as several business associates. The setting is opulent:  a well-furnished home with an abundance of food served on fine china with sliver, vintage liquor, and imported cigars. The family is well off and business is thriving.

Mr Mann took some time to set the scene, to introduce the characters — especially Johann Buddenbrook’s granddaughter Antonie, known as Tony— who is eight years old as the story opens, and grandson Tom. The story concludes in 1877. During this period Germany has struggled through an industrial revolution, and several wars, an economic crisis, and political turmoil. The Buddenbrook family has experienced its own life events and struggles: births, deaths, marriages, and divorce. Tom takes control of the family fortunes at a time of change when the lure of modernity competes with tradition … and wins. Calculated risks become risky, and family fortune declines. Each generation experiences its own setbacks.

There are eleven parts to this novel, taking the story through four generations of the Buddenbrook family. What made this novel a terrific read for me was the combination of a realistic plot, well-developed characters and storytelling which held my attention from beginning to end. Sometimes, the realism is uncomfortable (in particular, the antisemitism). But the authenticity of the story requires such accuracy, and it serves as a harbinger of what follows.

The major characters are Tony Buddenbrook, her brother Tom, and Tom’s son Johann (known as Hanno). Yes, there are other characters, but for me they were secondary. I finished the novel wondering whether the decline of the Buddenbrook family was inevitable. They were wealthy, through trade, which the family fortune and social standing depended upon.

Highly recommended, with thanks to the friends who recommended it.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I may well be the last person in my world to read this novel, but I knew these words:

‘My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.’

 Just in case you have not read the novel, here’s the blurb:

‘A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts – The Princess Bride is a modern storytelling classic.

As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she’ll meet Vizzini – the criminal philosopher who’ll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik – the gentle giant; Inigo – the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen – the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup’s one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.’

 Looking for something lighter to read a few weeks ago, I chose this book. And no, I have never seen the movie. So, with limited expectations and less knowledge I leapt into an engaging world of adventure. I did get side-tracked by Mr Goldman writing about the original version of this story (yes, I was fooled for a while) but mostly enjoyed his clever insertion of self into the story.

And this is a very clever story. At its heart it is about the impact of stories on those of us who read and think about them. Mr Goldman’s experience of this story (the story within the story) reminded me of the lessons learned from stories, that fiction we encounter as children can often become important life lessons. Yes, life can be unfair … which is a good reason to write (and read) stories.

My two favourite characters in this story are Fezzik, the gentle giant, and Inigo, the Spaniard seeking revenge. My least favourite characters are the various villains, and Buttercup.

It’s full of action. It’s funny and sad, tragic, and uplifting, and I am glad I read it.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Lowbridge by Lucy Campbell

‘Where everybody knows everyone, how can somebody just disappear?’

Lowbridge, New South Wales. In 1987, Tess Dawes disappears. She was seventeen years old.

In 2018, Katherine and James Ashworth move to Lowbridge. James grew up in the town, and the couple have moved there after the death of their daughter. James commutes to Sydney for work, while Katherine tries to hide her grief and pain in a haze of alcohol and pills. Desperate to regain her life (especially after James delivers an ultimatum), Katherine discovers the local historical society. After learning about Tess’s unsolved disappearance, Katherine is driven to try to find answers.

The novel shifts between 1986/87 and 2018, between Tess and Katherine. Trying to find out what happened to Tess gives Katherine the focus she needs to come to terms with her daughter’s death. Tess’s mother Julianne welcomes Katherine’s endeavours: she has never given up hope of finding out what happened to Tess. And what happened to Jacklyn Martin? Jac, who had a difficult home life, disappeared just before Tess. Everyone seemed to accept that she’d left her father to live with her mother interstate, but what was accepted in 1987 doesn’t appear to make sense in 2018.

Small town politics, the division between those who are accepted and those who are not, teenagers learning about boundaries and limitations: these are some of the ingredients. Add domestic violence, and other topical issues, to the mix and you have a page-turning mystery. Ms Campbell has peopled her novel with a range of believable characters.

This debut novel held my attention from beginning to end. I worked out aspects of the mystery, but not the conclusion.

Recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar, translated by Adrien Kijek

‘Beeta says that Mum attained enlightenment at exactly 2:35 p.m. on August 18, 1988, atop the grove’s tallest greengage plum tree on a hill overlooking all fifty-three village houses, to the sound of the scrubbing of pots and pans which pulled the grove out of its lethargy every afternoon.’

This book has been patiently waiting for me to read it for some years. That’s not uncommon: unless I live to be 120 or thereabouts, I suspect I’ll shuffle off this mortal coil with a reading list that would require a further century to complete. Yes, unlikely magical thinking. But once I picked up this novel, I was transported into a world where magical realism and harsh reality are brought together and conveyed to the reader in a form of classical Persian storytelling.

This novel is set in Iran in the period after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Roza, the mother of Sohrab, Beeta and Bahar, receives enlightenment in the greengage tree at the exact time that her son Sohrab is hanged under the instructions of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. The family fled Tehran in 1979, but they are not safe from the unrest even in the small village of Razan. Our narrator, Bahar, is a ghost. She was killed in Tehran in 1979.

How does it work, this blend of reality and magic? In my reading, the magic leavens the reality without discounting the brutality of it. In addition to the impacts on Iran, the disappearances of people and the hangings, the rules about head coverings and the ubiquitous uteloads of men with firearms, each member of Bahar’s family has their own reaction to the events that have overwhelmed their country. Roza leaves her family after climbing down from the greengage tree. Her husband, Hushang withdraws, immersing himself in books before returning to Tehran. Beeta becomes a mermaid, while Bahar moves restlessly, and observes.

Of course, there is more to the story. There are other characters, there are djinns, there are elements of the natural world as well. And somehow, Ms Azar draws these (seemingly) disparate elements together to deliver a rich story which reflects an ancient storytelling tradition which I chose to see as hope for a different future.  

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Fact:

‘On August 1, 1953, the United States Congress announced House Concurrent Resolution 108, a bill to abrogate nation-to-nation treaties, which had been made with American Indian Nations for “as long as the grass grows and the rivers flow”. The announcement called for the eventual termination of all tribes, and the immediate termination of five tribes, including the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.’

I picked up this novel and became immersed in the different characters and their stories. The central characters are Thomas Wazhashk and his niece Patrice (don’t call me Pixie!) Paranteau. Thomas, based on the author’s grandfather, Patrick Gourneau, works as a night watchman at the jewel bearing factory near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. His niece, Patrice, works at the factory making jewel bearings. The work is demanding but poorly paid. Patrice is supporting her mother and brother, while her alcoholic father returns home frequently enough to terrorise his family and bully them for money. Patrice and her mother Zhaanat are worried about Patrice’s sister Vera, who moved to Minneapolis. They’ve not heard from Vera for months.

Thomas Wazhashk is worried. A senator in Washington has introduced a bill that would terminate the Chippewa tribe and the support they receive from the government. Thomas knows that if the bill is passed it will destroy the tribe. The tribe is poor and if support is taken away, they will need to sell the land they still have. Tribe members will disperse to cities and their culture and traditions will be destroyed.

‘You cannot feel time grind against you. Time is nothing but everything, not the seconds, minutes, hours, days years. Yet this substanceless substance, this bending and shaping, this warping, this is the way we understand our world.’

Patrice travels to Minneapolis in search of Vera, and temporarily falls prey to exploitation.  Patrice doesn’t find Vera, but she does find her baby son and brings him home with the help of the young Chippewa boxer, Wood Mountain. Thomas focusses on trying to save the Turtle Mountain homeland. And around them both, other lives continue. Thomas remembers this advice he was given when he went to boarding school:

 “Study hard because we need to know the enemy.”

 This is a complex story, filled with well-realised memorable characters. Through these characters, Ms Erdrich shows us the best and worst of human nature and taught me about a period of American history about which I knew nothing.

I picked up this novel purely by chance at one of my libraries and am still thinking about aspects of the story and some of the characters.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Cast Not the Day (Drusus #1) by Paul Waters

‘It is by our tasks that we come to know our powers.’

The central character of this novel, set in the middle of the 4^th century CE, is Drusus. Drusus is a young British nobleman of Roman birth whose mother died when he was born. As the novel opens, Drusus is fourteen years old, and his father, Appius, has been summoned to the emperor’s court at Trier ‘to answer certain … questions.’ Drusus is sent to his great uncle in London, Lucius Balbus. He will never see his father again.

By this period, Britain and the Roman Empire have been ruled by Christian emperors for a generation. The Christian church continues to grow in strength and has suppressed most of its opposition. And, while much of the population in Britain worships the old gods, the Christian church, with the support of the emperor, is now attempting to destroy the old beliefs by force. As the story unfolds, Drusus finds himself involved in both religious and civil conflict. He becomes a soldier, finds love, and comes under suspicion.

The Western Roman Empire is beginning to crumble. There is civil war within the empire after the death of Constantine in 337 CE and Drusus and his lover Marcellus become caught up in the political intrigue and the fighting.

I enjoyed this novel. I do not know much of the history of this period, and Mr Waters has me wanting to know more about the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Drusus himself is an interesting character, as is Marcellus’s grandfather Aquinus.

And now I need to read the second novel in the duology to see how it ends.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith