A Fatal Grace is the second book of a trilogy, it was chosen by Tatiana as supposedly the best one of the three. Needless to say, I got quite frustrated reading it due to the countless references to characters and facts occurred in the first book. Hence the necessity to read the other two, so that the perfectionist in me could be appeased.

Louise Penny created a bunch of characters, living in a dream village outside Montreal (Canada), who somehow participate in every crime novel of the series; they all revolve around inspector Armand Gamache, the clever, gentlemanly, honorable protagonist who will always solve the mystery at the very end.

The trouble is that our good inspector is coping with a parallel investigation throughout the whole trilogy: someone inside the Police has a hidden agenda to destroy his career and he is under a lot of stress, the hits are coming left and right and he is doing his best to block them all. There is a mole in the department. Who can he really trust?

The ingredients for a pleasant easy read are all there, a sort of Canadian Agatha Christie style whodunnit novel that will keep you puzzling over the identity of the killer until the last page.

from Margaret:

A pleasant meeting in Tania's garden, enjoying the warm sun of an unexpected St. Martin's Summer.

This book was a little different from our usual. Tania had chosen it because she said she wanted some “lighter” reading to take us out of COVID blues. So “A FATAL GRACE” was a crime novel, a whodunnit, set in wintry Canada, where temperatures drop to minus 25 degrees or more. The writer dwells a lot on this aspect – the sheer torture of dealing with the kind of temperatures where one's nose is practically frozen off in seconds and car doors can be iced up and blocked and drivers can be disorientated in driving snow and ice and be lost in snow drifts.

To me, the most positive part of this story was the description of the little town of Three Pines all decked out for Christmas with typical American (and Canadian) enthusiasm. We could really see the cafe with its glowing welcoming windows, the open fires in the homes, the Christmas lights and everyone very chummy and happy celebrating together. This latter description took up a fair part of the beginning of the book. In fact, nothing really happened until about Chapter 9 when Inspector Gamache began to investigate the murder of C.C. The murder itself was totally surrealistic....electrocuting someone standing in an icy field watching a curling match. Ms. Penny was certainly not lacking in imagination!

Most of us enjoyed the book and got caught up in the various entanglements of the story. But personally, I found the entire plot bizarre and the characters too unrealistic to arouse any feelings of empathy. In fact, there were too many characters. None of us actually managed to sort them out. However, Tania explained that this was actually the second part of a trilogy, so maybe more was revealed in the first part and we agreed it might have been better to have read that first... It certainly made a change from our usual more staid reading matter!

CAFFE' E SIGARETTE - Ferdinand von Schirach

from Tatiana:

How lucky we were to have a mild fall day to enjoy our meeting at Eva’s. We could sit outside (at least until a wind kicked up), have a marvelous lunch and relish each other’s company. Only the worry about hitting traffic broke the meeting up. I think otherwise we may have all stayed for dinner!

Caffè e sigarette was an interesting book and all of us found aspects of it we enjoyed. Based on von Schirach’s life, legal practice and general observations, it is composed of vignettes – some very short and some longer – encapsulating something witnessed, considered or experienced. The fact that the only translation available to us from the German is in Italian, which was not an easy read for everybody, gave many of us the sense that we were missing the cultural context of the book, the underpinnings that probably gave more heft and meaning to the vignettes – though the same could have probably been said of an English translation.

We felt we were just skimming the surface. This was confirmed when we heard Eva’s detailed reaction to the book (naturally, she read it in German). There were connections we missed and allusions we did not get but what we did understand, put together with Eva’s explanations, provided a delayed appreciation of the author and his personal views. Von Schirach’s take on the smaller and bigger episodes in life is sometimes funny, often depressing but, on a whole, thought provoking, which engendered a rich exchange between us.

It was a good choice for our book club and a lovely meeting.

from Margaret:

Our second face-to-face meeting, much appreciated by all, took place in Eva's autumnal garden, with a little flock of doves as curious spectators.

The book we were discussing was not an easy book. Although it was relatively short (less than 200 pages), the writing was very compact and intense. It seemed, superficially, deceptively easy, with a string of apparently unrelated episodes and reflections but, in fact, the more one read, a greater number of connecting themes emerged.

Schirach is a trained defence lawyer and his keen sense of justice perpetrates the book, with images that seem understated but which remain impressed in the mind. Born in 1964 when the horrors of the Nazi regime were still fresh, and descended from a family that was actively involved in the Nazi movement, he carries with him an inevitable weight of guilt and bewildered incomprehension that subtly pervades his writing. He makes several references to the Holocaust. He describes a dignified old Jewish neighbour, a cultured and well-educated man, who dresses elegantly and sets his table with candles, crystal glasses and silver cutlery every evening, even though he lives alone and has no guests. This man had survived Auschwitz, Buchenwald and their unspeakable horrors, but he does not allow himself to sink into depression and preserves his dignity and style. By contrast, this loss of dignity is described in a few lines in Chapter 18 where he describes a scene in which a high German official, Fieldmarshall von Witzleben, imprisoned by Hitler, is forced to shuffle around holding his trousers up, because his belt and braces had been taken away from him, while the Nazi officer Freisler jeers and insults him.

There are a few lighter notes, such as Chapter 13 where he describes the strange passion for colouring books for adults and leaves us to draw our own conclusions, and the tragi-comical tale of the wife who kills her drunkard husband in Chapter 36. and serenely makes a new life for herself after she has served her prison sentence – a classic case of the “banality of evil”.

I believe that this book should be read several times to appreciate the many nuances of von Schirach's complex thought processes and his philosophical approach.

THE FLORIOS OF SICILY - Stefania Auci

from Tatiana:

Nearly all present and accounted for, distanced but not masked, still not hugging but happy to be together once again. Margaret’s box lunch was perfect for eating from our laps and took nothing away from the pleasure of meeting in person.

Most of us enjoyed The Florios of Sicily, either for the historical detail or the characters, though a couple of us simply weren’t caught up enough in either the history or the various protagonists to enjoy the book. It could be that it is the kind of story that requires a reader to be in a certain frame of mind.

Certainly there was nothing wrong with the imagery or the prose. But while many thought it would be interesting to read the next book and continue to follow the story of this family, those who never got into the book were definitely not interested in reading the next one. Perhaps we were just burnt out by all things Sicilian.

It was, however, fun to have a bottle of Florio Marsala backing up some of the things that happened in this book, though there, again, not to all our tastes!

from Laura:

Stefania Auci did a very extensive research about the Florio family and two centuries of Italian history, including two world wars that changed the face of Europe.

Inevitably I found similarities with other books we have read based in Sicily, but each author has his own style and structure, so every time it feels like a different novel, a new perspective. I like the way she introduces each chapter with a concise description of the historical facts, to prepare the reader and set the scenery through which the novel will unravel.

This family saga depicts very strong men and the women who stood behind them, always submissive as tradition mandated at the time.

It is quite surrealistic for us women of the 21st century to relate to such behaviour, some may strongly disapprove, but it wasn’t so far back in our past, I can still remember the stories my grandmother used to tell me about the south of Italy. Progress advanced really quick for western countries in the last hundred years, but there are still places on earth where women are slaves.

To appreciate this story you have to leave prejudice behind and swim into the deep waters of strong sentiments, morals, honour and tragedy. I was captured from the beginning and enjoyed reading it. Of course I could not miss the second book!

LA ZIA MARCHESA - Simonetta Agnello Hornby

from Tatiana:

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW - Amor Towles

from Tatiana:

Oh, what a lovely feeling – seeing some of us after such a long while, out on Jill’s terrace, sun shining, lake sparkling… and a wonderful book to discuss. We all thought A Gentleman in Moscow was a wonderful read. Charming, was the best adjective, but not sufficient alone to convey also the marvelous insights, the profound touches into the human psyche and capacity to adapt and flourish, the breadth of a culture that has truly given the world so much in music, literature and art. In the Count, Towles has created a character who entertains, teaches, and inspires – all in a setting of great upheaval when the world the Count has known is being violently uprooted, causing great suffering and yet, engendering a hitherto untapped capacity to fully relish once unconsidered things such as a taste of fresh honey or the deep friendships of people in the same boat. The book is funny, poignant, empathetic and, for me especially, whose heritage is that of the Count’s cultural background, a sweet nostalgic reminder of the ability of music and flavors to evoke family and home. Definitely a book we will recommend wholeheartedly to everyone.

from Margaret:

Although it sometimes happens that all our members like a certain book, I don't remember another time when all were unanimously enthusiastic. This book appealed at all levels – the attractive personality of Count Rostov, a true gentleman in every sense of the world, the writer's fluid style, the subtle sense of humour throughout, the touches of whimsy where inanimate objects take on a life of their own, the unusual story of a nobleman surviving the Russian Revolution purges and confined to house arrest in the luxury hotel where he was living – though demoted from his suite to a squalid attic room. The story, despite bordering on the fantastic, was so well told that it took on its own reality. We all believed in the Count and his apparently effortless adaptation from elitist customer to restaurant waiter. The minor characters came alive as well and took on their own personalities. Towles writes with an apparently effortless elegance, only hinting at the drama that lurks behind the real events in the story, like the unexplained disappearance of Nina (we can only guess at what happened to her, given the harsh climate of purges of the period), the rather comical meetings of the Party leaders – in reality a sinister bunch that ruled the destinies of millions of people), the Count's cleverly planned, but nonetheless very risky, escape. It was interesting to hear Tania's reflections as her family were White Russians and her father must have known that world before he was forced to take refuge in the United States. My own (very limited) experience was a brief stay in the Metropole Hotel in the early '70s, when, alas, it was no longer the elegant place it had been in the Count's era, but instead a squalid hostel for foreign tourists kept under strict surveillance by grumpy old women sitting guard duty in the corridors. A lost world indeed! Our meeting was held on Jill's terrace where we were able to respect the social distancing rules still in place. We were therefore limited in numbers, with only Grazia connecting through her phone. We are all dying for a proper face-to-face meeting....hopefully next time!

THE COPENHAGEN TRILOGY - Tove Ditlevsen

from Tatiana:

I was sorry to have missed our meeting as Childhood, Youth, Dependency is a book that touches on a lot of different themes and I would have enjoyed hearing in what way the book impacted you all. I read the whole book and am glad I did as the portrait that emerges of its author is, naturally, far more complete when you know about her life beyond when she was a child. It always strikes me how many books there are written by people who struggle with immense problems in their lives thanks to inadequate, neglectful or downright abusive parents. The issues are manifold and contrast with the idea (also to be found in books) that parents (and mothers in particular) cannot be held to the notion of being 100% responsible for the psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing of their children. Is it true (and not simply a social/cultural construct) that mothers are the number one denominator of a child’s healthy development? Do other cultures adhere to the notion that mothers are the foremost predictors of whether or not a child will grow into a productive, happy member of society? This matters because the cause and effect of whether or not a mother works full time or reads to her kids or any other number of do’s and don’t’s is the subject of ongoing debate and a new mother is literally hounded by the idea that her child’s wellbeing depends entirely on her: whether or not she drank or smoke during pregnancy, how much “quality time” she spends with her kid, etc. From the point of view of Tove Ditlevsen, her mother, who seemed to resent her existence, set the stage for her warped development and later plunge into addiction. And while she attempts to explain her mother’s lousy parenting and went on to achieve success, obviously things never did work out since she committed suicide in the end. I found the book engaging and extremely interesting, both in terms of the writer’s life and her times and place. It was written in a straightforward manner (at least in translation) that was not literarily outstanding but it read honest and real and I think her contribution to “women’s” literature is important and should have wider readership. I, for one, had never heard of her. I’m glad to have read it – one more time when our marvelous book club introduces me to a new author I will wholeheartedly recommend.

from Margaret:

Only five of us present for our online meeting, due to various personal problems. The meeting went very smoothly, however, with everyone well connected. That doesn't stop us hoping fervently for a face-to-face next time, pandemic permitting!! This book is a biographical trilogy of the life of Danish poet and writer Tove Ditlevsen. Lena had told us we could restrict our reading to the first part “Childhood” if we found the entire book too heavy going. But, in fact, who could resist reading on? Ditlevsen took her readers through a frank and sometimes painful account of her early and later life, and her gradual sink into the hopeless demi-world of drug addiction. However, she recounted even the worst parts in such a clear, detached and honest style that none of it was particularly harrowing. I did not know this writer at all – I believe she has had something of a revival recently – well merited, in my opinion. She has a rare gift of language (the translators have to be congratulated) with poetic figures of speech like “an infant star resting in the new moon's cradle” and “my courage drains away like sand in an hourglass”. Her life was unconventional – four husbands, but lucky enough to find a publisher early on who appreciated her work so she appeared not to have financial difficulties. I did think she treated her three previous husbands rather heartlessly – especially poor old Viggo F, who introduced her into the literary world of Copenhagen and seems to have adored her. She describes him rather heartlessly with his “green shape, which appeared and disappeared like duckweed on a windy pond”. The account of her childhood, with the cold and poverty, was very poignant and evoked the situation in Britain in the post-War years......similar chilly rooms, similar endemic drunkenness. The account of her first abortion too was typical of these times when young girls were more or less abandoned to cope with the problem alone of an unwanted pregnancy. All in all a gripping read and I would recommend anyone who followed Lena's instructions, to carry on and read to the end …..if you have been able to resist up till now!

L'ARMINUTA - Donatella Di Pietrantonio

from Margaret:

Our meeting to discuss Françoise book – again in streaming. It took a little while to get it off the road this time, for some strange reason. However, we managed in the end although we were not all visible all the time......

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the cover photo. It was entirely black with the scowling face of a girl emerging from the non-background. If I had seen it in a bookshop and known nothing about it, I would have taken it for a thriller or a gruesome murder story. I did think the publisher could have come up with something more appealing!!

However, apart from this small detail, I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I read it in the original (Italian), which I think was a bonus, as some of us who read it in English did not consider the translation to be particularly good. The local flavour and the dialect was entirely lost, for instance. The aspect that struck me most was the contrast between the two families that L'Arminuta was shunted between. Her biological family was poor and ignorant. Her adoptive family seemed to be, or tried to be, middle class. To me, the biological family came out best, despite their limitations due to lack of schooling, social niceties and poverty. They were straightforward, down-to-earth and realistic, as well as being affectionate in their limited way. They allowed their “different” daughter freedom to go and visit her old friends and did not seem to resent the gifts and advantages her adoptive mother was able to give her, setting her apart from her siblings. L'Arminuta's adoptive family, on the other had, was full of pretensions. Her “mother's” new companion was a hard man, stuck on discipline. His wife (companion? it wasn't clear if they were actually married) was obviously cowed by him.

L'Arminuta came over as a courageous girl, who adapted to her very changed circumstances and tried to fit in, despite her anguish over the strange situation she found herself in – rejected by the couple whom she had believed were her true parents. The nicest character, however, was her young sister, Adriana, a true heroine of the people – staunch, loyal, practical, direct and fearless. The affection between these two sisters was, for me, the most appealing side of the story. Di Pietrantonio's prose was direct, with few similes, metaphors or other figures of speech and this gave her story a special direct ring-true character, conveying the impression that the protagonist was real and not a fictitious creation.

from Tatiana:

Another virtual meeting – a bit of chaos and a few snafus but, eventually, we were nearly all present.

Françoise chose this book when she saw that a movie had been made of it (she immediately thought about our resident hacker and her ability to enable us to see the movies made based on books we read :-) and she enjoyed the story and the writing. In fact, it was unanimously agreed that the book was effective and realistic (with a nod to the Italian neo-realismo style – same sparse, essential language, same impact) though those who read it in both the original and the translation were very disappointed with the translation. This is strange since the translator is the same woman who made Ferrante a household word in the United States but I, who only read the English version, did find the writing flat and lacking in impact so it is likely that in order to get a real feel for the story, one had to read it in the original.

We all felt the characters to be well-drawn, the impoverished setting true to its time and the socioeconomic differences extremely relevant in terms of the opportunities the children were going to have later in life. The female characters, overall, were the stronger but without making anyone too good to be true. In fact, each was a realistic combination of flaws and virtues, complex human beings molded as much by character as by life experiences. Adriana, a “supporting” character, was the one that inspired the most admiration and, in fact, she is the one that made the ending as effective as it is.

Though virtual meetings definitely require extra doses of patience and we are all waiting with bated breath to be able to meet in person again, kudos to Laura to pulling it off once again. It is better than not meeting at all and I am always glad to see us all well and kicking.

from Laura:

This book has been a real surprise to me. I had seen the cover several times before, the girl’s face is somehow intriguing, but I don’t know why I didn’t get caught. If not for Françoise choosing it for us this month, I would have missed it. Once I started reading I just couldn’t put it down, I am not ashamed to say I stayed up most of the night to get to the end!

A 13 year old girl, completely oblivious of the fact she was adopted as an infant, is returned to her biological family when her adoptive family breaks down. All of a sudden she finds herself living with unknown parents, brothers and a sister, in a small town, in poverty, surrounded by ignorance and misery. The story takes you with her while she struggles in adjusting to the new situation, in coming to terms with her abandonment and in resuscitating her self-assurance.

The writing is quite realistic, often crude, but captivating and deeply moving, even heartbreaking at times. The author’s narrative is spare but she has remarkable insight into people’s most raw feelings. She is able, in just 150 pages, to take you fully into the story and participate emotionally.

Totally worth reading.

GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER - Bernardine Evaristo

from Margaret

I found this a jaunty, upbeat book that skipped from story to story of the numerous protagonists, who were all different from each other, but who shared the common heritage of origin. They were all immigrants, African women whose families had emigrated to the UK but who had nonetheless maintained a strong sense of identity, even after a couple of generations. Despite having to overcome infinite problems, discrimination, hardship and sometimes violence, all the women in the book eventually came out on top, achieving their goals or at least an inner equilibrium. The book also dealt with many facets of gender identity and non conformist sexual orientation, treating the theme, however, with naturalness and delicacy. The writer skillfully led us through the lives of twelve very different women, succeeding in capturing our sympathy and attention for each one of them.

I was particularly struck by the energy and determination all these women showed in achieving their aims. I doubt that Western women – with due exceptions – have this energy and strength of will, accustomed as so many of us are to a cushioned existence with the “Mummy State” looking after us!

In a book with such wide scope it was hard to concentrate on only one or two aspects and our discussion went on for a long time, despite the handicap of having to communicate online due to lockdown restrictions.

We all agreed, however, that this system, if far from perfect, was better than not meeting at all, which would have been the alternative. So cheers for social media...even if we hope we won't have to use it too often!!!

from Jill

At first I was doubtful since the first girls seemed to be exclusively lesbian , black and young, none of which I am. However soon realised that I was wrong. Each girl had a different past and a different story , mirroring the many very real problems that we as females all face at some time or another eg. Mother/daughter antagonism, loss of a loved one etc. In fact Evaristo herself could easily have been one of the girls in the story.

Several of the stories gave insight into the various difficulties faced by blacks: in the >UK Eg. Quick, hide your bag! There’s a black woman. Highly educated professional people having to work as cleaners, because their PH.Ds were not recognised in the UK. I liked the fact that all the girls were interconnected in some way, even though I had to make a kind of family tree on paper at first to get the hand of the various connections.

I was doubtful at first about her style of writing : a mix of prose and poetry, which initially I found affected. But as one got used to phrases cascading down the page, I realised that actually it was a very effective style of writing in this particular case. Much enjoyed the book and will now look for another one by her.

from Françoise

I enjoyed the last book "Girl, Woman, Other" and read it in a very short time, taken by the flow of the saga. It is well structured, starting and finishing with the show "The Last Amazon of Dahomey", served by a poetic rhythm of the writing.

The twelve characters coming from different countries and islands, over the time, racially mixed and different in their sexual choices are full of life and energy. They have gone through difficult times but resisted old and new generations, defending their self identity and freedom.

Thanks to Grazia.