It’s a Gothic novel about twins, and it also shares many of the same attributes as Zafon’s wonderful Shadow of the Wind: books, fire, and hidden identities. If you liked that, you’ll love this one, but it is also very much more of a “women’s novel,” written for anyone who ever loved Wuthering Heights, or The Lady in White, or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, or Middlemarch, or Jane Eyre. Above all Jane Eyre, especially if, like me, you lost interest in that book the first time you read it after the part when Jane’s first friend dies, and she returns from school.

So what are you waiting for? Go! Go! Times a-wasting. Start reading!

That means you especially, Mum.

There is an old and noble tradition of historical writing about French Canada during the ancien regime and the British colonies to the south, including the war of Independence — I’m thinking of authors like Thomas Costain, Thomas Raddall, and Kenneth Roberts. But when I say old, I mean old. Surely we are due for some reinterpretations. I thought of my friend with Renaissance and Early modern interests as I strolled the streets of old Quebec, still intact within its original walls, and couldn’t help feeling that this town in its restored beauty might provide as strong a sense of how the French lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as any in France.

The photo at left is from Old Montreal, and it shows the “sailor’s church,” Notre Dame de Bon Secours (immortalized by Leonard Cohen as “Our Lady of the Harbour”) with the silvered dome of the Marche de Bonsecours in the background.

Yet passionate we are, and the whole Chicago branch of that demographic was present at the Chicago Theatre last night for a wonderful reunion concert of their distinctive bluesy electro-pop.  I’d like to say “long-awaited” reunion concert but really, who knew?  It was the best sort of surprise, one that you don’t even know you want until it happens.

I’d say more, but I’m tempted to revert to sullen teenager mode and just say either you get it about Yaz or you don’t.  I was asked last night when I first learned about them and the answer is that I heard about them the way all new music gets transmitted, from the older sister of a friend.  She loaned me a mixed tape, which I dubbed and still have.  It was my first introduction to music beyond Top 40 and AOR (bonus points if you remember what AOR stood for).  For the record, below the fold, the contents of “Lucy’s Tape,” named after her, not me:

• Trio — Da Da Da
• Flock of Seagulls — Space Age Love Song
• Thompson Twins — In the Name of Love
• Clash — Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay or Should I go
• Jon and Vangelis — Friends of Mr. Cairo and Back to School
• Haircut 100 — Love Plus One
• Spoons — Nova Heart
• Marshall Crenshaw — Cynical Girl
• Yazoo — Don’t Go
• Beatles — Ballad of John and Yoko

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?

I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t read, but I do remember that the first chapter book I read was Enid Blyton’s Five go to Kirrin island.  I also remember being in grade one and trying to go to the section in the library where I could find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the librarian gently but firmly steering me back to the picture book section.  Being read to as a child was crucially important.

What are some of the books you read as a child?

Do you have a few hours?  I would typically bring ten to twelve books home a week from the library. Favourites, at different ages, were Enid Blyton, L.M. Montgomery, Arthur Ransome, Laura Inglis Wilder, Edward Eager, E.M. Nesbit, Elizabeth Enright, Eloise Jarvis McGraw (Greensleeves - I still reread this one), Grace Richardson (Apples Every Day - this one too), Noel Streatfield, Mara Kay, Maud Hart Lovelace, Joan Aiken, Alison Uttley, Rosemary Sutcliff, etc. etc.  I also started exploring the adult section at a fairly young age, and discovered Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt (who were, of course, the same person).

What is your favourite genre?

I’m eclectic — I’ll read the best books in any genre.  Literary fiction and historical fiction, especially about times and places I don’t know much about, are old favourites.  Mysteries/thrillers and fantasy are more recent loves.  I haven’t read much SF (does William Gibson count?) but I expect I’ll get to it some day.

Do you have a favourite novel?

Every time I reread Doris Lessing’s Golden Notebook, Carol Shields’ Republic of Love, and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings I get something completely different out of them.  So they would be god desert island candidates.

Where do you usually read?

On my bed.

When do you usually read?

In the evening,

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?

Not happily.  If I do, it means that I wasn’t enjoying my first book and I’ll probably never go back to it.  So I suppose technically, I have one book that I’m reading and another I think I should be reading.

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?

I read cookbooks like I read novels.  I read other non fiction for research purposes, so I am usually taking notes.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?

I buy them, used and new.

Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?

I try to cull them periodically and I usually end up donating a bag or two to a book sale.  But since much more than a bag or two of books enters my house every year, there is a problem here.

If you have children, what are some of the favourite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?

It has been fascinating rereading old books to my son and seeing which hold up and which don’t.  Madeleine L’Engle, Susan Cooper, Arthur Ransome, and The Phantom Tollbooth were as good as they ever were.  All my Narnia book preferences had changed.  Some old friends were not as good on rereading.  

What are you reading now?

I’m in the middle of an old Elizabeth Peters, The Camelot Caper.  Good fun.

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?

A TBR stack on the top of one bookshelf.

What’s next?

Not sure, but I just bought my very first book by Lois McMaster Bujold, Paladin of Souls, so that may be it.

What books would you like to reread?

I reread books often, which is why I keep most of the books I buy.  I suspect the book I have read the most often is L.M. Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingeside.  If it’s not that one, it is definitely one of hers.

Who are your favourite authors?

In no particular order, Laurie Colwin, Margaret Elphinstone, Dorothy Dunnett, Carol Shields, Mary Wesley, Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt, Doris Lessing, Charles de Lint, Elizabeth George, Dorothy Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, Angela Thirkell, P.D. James, Sarah Caudwell, Cecelia Holland, Pamela Dean, Vera Brittain, Garth Nix, Gail Godwin, Connie Willis, Susan Howatch, Susan Isaacs, Melissa Banks and I should probably shut up now because I could go on forever but there was probably something else you planned to do today.

I have a vague idea that these are supposed to be historical fiction blogs, but since a lot of my favourites have already been named, I am going to pretend I do not know this and just nominate as my whimsy takes me (and by the way, there are at least five blogs called, “As my whimsy takes me.” I’m surprised it’s not more.)

LadyTess — Historical romance, Canadiana, and we went to college together. How can you lose? And if you hurry over there right now, yes right now, she has a photo of a deer in her very top post.

Plotters & Manipulators United — Sherry Thomas doesn’t post very often, but when she does it is always interesting, especially when she writes about the craft of writing. Actually, the reason I am giving her this is to nudge her into posting more. Nudge, nudge.

Whatever — John Scalzi writes SF not HF, but world-building is world-building and I visit every day. Mostly, I confess, for the cat photos and the political rants. No, with his billions and billions of hits, he does not need my blog award, but he’s up for a fan writer Hugo this year (oh, and: best novel), and I thought maybe if he didn’t win that, the Blogger Excellence Award might be some small consolation.

Into that world inverted… — I think I have been reading too many “how to write” books because what I want to say is that I love Sarah Rees Brennan’s blogging voice. And it seems strange to talk about voice on a blog, but I suppose it shouldn’t be. Read her blog for a while, and then I defy you not yo buy her book when it comes out.

Smart Bitches <3 Trashy Books — Another blog that doesn’t need my link to get hits, but these smart, feminist romance novel fans are my guilty pleasure and I might as well come clean about it. It’s been a long time since I read a romance, but it doesn’t matter. As they say, “Come for the Dominican bitches — stay for the man titty!” Oh lord, what kind of search strings am I going to end up with now?

And one food blog, for good luck:

Gastronomy Domine — Just don’t click the link if you’re feeling hungry. You’ve been warned.

So don’t tell me you’ve got nothing to read.

I have read a number of novels about the French Revolution that I have liked — Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety remains a favourite. While many of these use real and invented characters to tell the story of the revolution, Delors’ book is quite different. It’s not the story of the revolution, but rather the story of the minor noble Gabrielle de Montserrat, and it is her experiences and reactions that remain paramount. I think this is a huge strength. Delors’ Gabrielle experiences the cataclysmic events of her time the way most of do our own, as spectators and as victims, without the power to change the turbulence around her but with the strength to endure its effects. As Gabrielle experiences it, the unfolding of the revolution seems to have an inevitable quality about it, which is surely how it must have seemed to those buffeted by its currents.

Delors avoids one of what I think is one of the pitfalls of first person historical fiction: she gives Gabrielle a reason for telling her story. The book is written as Gabrielle’s memoir, written by her in England, in English, long after the events she relates are over. This allows Gabrielle to “tell” of many things that both her imagined historical audience and her audience of contemporary readers wouldn’t know, but better than that, the voice is perfect. The book truly reads like it was written by a Frenchwoman writing for an English audience. That is probably because, erm, it was.

My favourite part of the novel wasn’t, in the end, the broad movements of history, or even the tragic love story at the book’s heart, but rather the story of Gabrielle’s relationship with Villiers. Without being in the least anachronistic, their relationship has a very contemporary resonance. He’s the wrong guy, the one you date though you know you shouldn’t because he wants it so much, and then he utterly fails to be what he has promised. As she transacts this relationship of compromise and tries to make it work, Gabrielle’s character emerges, both innocent and wise. I loved how she checked the value of the diamonds he gave her before they began their liaison.

I wanted more. I know in an earlier incarnation this book was longer, and I think I wanted that version, publishing constraints and norms be damned. I guess I’ll just have to wait for her next one!

The second reason I love their books is that the food is delicious.  The receipts typically have modest lists of ingredients and they always work.  I admit that my pantry may be better stocked with unusual ingredients than most, but almost everything in their latest book can be made with things you’d find at an ordinary grocery store.  It isn’t “restaurant” ethnic food; it tastes more like home cooking, and it is often based directly on dishes they have eaten on their travels, with ordinary people.  The classics make way for unusual and unique receipts and their books will not duplicate anything else you have in your collection.

But why take my word for it?  I thought I’d make one of their receipts and present it here for you.  So, below the fold: Savory Boiled Dumplings!
What follows isn’t the receipt as it appears in the book, but rather the way I made it, which differs a little.  First the wrappers:

• 1 1/2 all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• about 3/8 lukewarm water

Put the flour, salt, and egg in the bowl of a food processor, turn it on, and pour the water through the feeding tube.  The dough shouldn’t be too sticky.  Let it sit for an hour while you make the filling:

• 1 small leek
• 1/2 cup ground pork
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. roasted sesame oil

Quarter the leek lengthwise and slice it thinly.  Measure out about 1/2 of leek and put it in a bowl with the other ingredients.  Mush it all up with the back of a fork.

Divide the dough into four pieces.  Roll one into a log abut 8″ long, reserving the other three.  Cut the log into eight pieces.  With fingers and rolling pin, press each piece into an oval about 2″ by 3″.  Put around a teaspoon and a half of filling on the oval, and pinch up the edges to enclose it like a calzone.  No need for extra water — this dough is soft enough without it.  Put each formed dumpling onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper that has been sprinkled with a little flour (that tip alone made the book worth its price.  My dumplings always used to stick together).  Repeat with the other 3 lumps of dough.

Here’s where I really diverged from the receipt.  They suggested boiling the dumplings in water and then straining them.  I boiled my in homemade chicken stock with some ginger slivers and the rest of the leek.  They cook in a couple of minutes, and I served them in a shallow amount of stock. I made a dipping sauce of 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part rice vinegar and a few more ginger shreds, and on the side I made a salad of chopped cucumber and tomato dressed with salt, lime juice and dill, also inspired by the book. The dumplings were yummy and chewy, fulfilling all my dumpling dreams. And how did they look? Well, see for yourself:

David Blixt, The Master of Verona St. Martin’s Press, 2007.
I definitely learned about this one online first, most likely here. Shakespeare and Dante? Looks yummy.

Charles de Lint, Widdershins (Tor, 2006).
The first de Lint book I read, many moons ago, was his book in the Fairy tale series, Jack of Kinrowan. I loved the Ottawa setting, and I’ve been a fan ever since.

Catherine Delors, Mistress of the Revolution Dutton, 2008.
I first learned of this book when I saw the sale posted on Publisher’s Marketplace last January. “That looks like something I’d read,” I thought, “Maybe her agent would be the right one for me.”

William Gibson, Spook Country Berkley, 2007.
I picked his Pattern Recognition up off a library shelf and loved it, and though I did not enjoy Neuromancer or Mona Lisa Overdrive quite as much, I thought I’d try this.

Conn Iggulden, Genghis: Birth of an Empire Dell, 2007.
This was a spontaneous buy. I love historical fiction about Asia and I read Cecilia Holland’s Mongol novel, Until the Sun Falls for the second time recently with great delight. And he was one of the author’s of The Dangerous Book for Boys. How can i go wrong?

Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Harper, 2007.
My only non-fiction book in this group. When I read for pleasure, it is almost always fiction. My sister introduced me to Kingsolver through Prodigal Summer and I have become a fan.

Lisa See, Peony in Love Random House, 2008.
See about abut Asian historical fiction. I haven’t read anything by her before. I suspect I first saw her books on a front table at a bookstore.

Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale Washington Square Press, 2006.
I am sure I first heard about this one on the internet, and I think it was through some online contest the publisher was running to promote it. I didn’t participate in the contest, but I did remember the book, and I’ve been picking it up and putting it down every time I am in a bookstore for months. This time I didn’t put it down.

Rebecca Stott, Ghostwalk Spiegel & Grau, 2008.
If you’d asked me before I did this exercise how I found new books to read, I would have told you I browse the front tables and shelves of bookstores and choose books that way. This is the only book from this marathon purchasing session that I got that way. It was on the front table in the store, I picked it up, read the cover copy, and put it on my pile.

So, bought any good books lately? Let me know! I’m sure I’ll be back to the bookstore before long…