G Books

This has to be one of the most enchanting romances published for YA literature--ever. I fell in love with it in jr. high and even as an adult I find it oddly appealing. It's labeled a "supernatural romance" and I can think of nothing better by which to call it. It's odd, it's beautiful, and it manages to care for other aspects outside the initial gothic romance.

In fact, what pulled me in was how simple was the idea. A little boy is cursed by a witch--always a good fantasy route--and his big sister wants to help him. And she happens to do this by becoming a witch. However, she is not just a witch. She is a teenage girl in a very real world (not that the reader won't love the supernatural area) who is going through the traditional fight of growing up and finding one's place.

The writing is rich and flowing, the characters are all three-dimenionsonal and engaging, and who doesn't love a bit o fo the psychological? And yet it still maintains a simple fairy tale feeling.

Laura is a normal girl with a sweet younger brother and a frazzled single mother. Her life is ordinary until the day her brother is stamped with the image of a horrible man. Laura turns to Sorry, an older, intriguing boy who she believes to be a witch. Will he be able to help her?

This story is entrancing to read. I first read it as a 13 year old, and I still find it fascinating. It is a great read, especially for those interested in witchcraft stories.

This book is amazing. The writing is so simple and so beautiful that the images stay in your head for days after you've finished it. The story is about change and transformation, seen through the eyes of the two very different main characters. Both of them is different at the end, and has a different place in their lives and their families. The romance between Laura and Sorry really moves you, because they learn to love themselves as they fall in love with each other. Also, the magic and danger feels so real and not stupid or made up at all. The best thing about this book is that when you finish it, you feel transformed too. I love this book.

GENERAL COMMENTS: "The Changeover" strikes the tone of a precocious adolescent with verve. Fourteen-year-old Laura sometimes communicates with an open frankness that gets ignored, sometimes through sarcasm, which she uses as a screen when she must tell the truth but doesn't necessarily want to be understood. Her sensitivity to the nature of others grants her an awareness of her own growing body even as she delves into her gift to protect her brother. This book does a good job of showing the selfishness of teenagers, AND the selfishness of the parents that love them imperfectly, even as they compare to the sinister greed of Carmody Braque, the villain. The resolution(clue: quasi-spoiler appears in the rest of this sentence) aptly makes use of this comparison, by depending upon Laura's understanding of Carmdoy's needs, and her ability to exploit them as he exploits the children's desires.

MORE SPECIFIC DETAILS: Her sensitivity to others allows fourteen-year-old Laura to recognize danger, but she remains helpless in deflecting it, as when her parents get divorced. At fourteen, she is faced yet again with her gift of sensing the nature of things, and this time, it's her baby brother who will suffer. Mahy intertwines Laura's current dilemma with her family issues. She lives in a single-parent family in which the mother is no angel (although awfully close) and the absent father is no demon (although most noticeably absent). Laura is aware that her parents have needs that don't always include her best interest, but this doesn't mean that she doesn't seethe with resentment. At times, her mature assessment of the situation only frustrates her desire to react as a child.

ABOUT SORENSEN, LAURA'S CO-STAR: The flip side of her family is Sorensen Carlisle's two-parent family in which both parents are women (his mother and grandmother). His guardians, who are both witches, were sorely disappointed in Sorensen when they found a boy instead of the girl who might complete their circle of magic, and deserted him, albeit with a generous allowance, to an adopted family. One day he shows up at their door, with obvious marks of abuse on him, and in spite of his gender, the mark of magic as well. This late in the game, they are forced to repair their mistake as best they can-- only they can't take away his alienation from himself. It is these two teenagers that must fight Carmody, without further estranging themselves from their families in the bargain.

I read this book as a teenager when it originally came out in 1984. The greatest compliment that I can give The Changeover is that twenty+ years later, I still reread it sometimes--and I still enjoy it. I can't say that about too many of my childhood books.

The Changeover was a rare bird back in mid-eighties--there weren't too many well-written books about magic and the supernatural with teenage girls as the protagonists in those days. This was a genre that I adored and could never get enough of back then. So this novel was an instant favorite.

There are certain books that you read when you are young that shape the kind of person that you become--not necessarily in a large way, but in subtle way. The Changeover was one of these books for me. I didn't realize it when I read the book at fourteen, but The Changeover is a metaphor for changing from childhood to adulthood--from becoming a girl to becoming a woman. And this book really captures that--all the insecurity and the fear, and even the pleasure that you feel as a girl in your own new-found, womanly power. I guess this book appealed to me so much because it made me feel better about a lot of the things I was going through at fourteen; it gave me a certain confidence in myself: I wasn't just getting older--I was becoming a different being.

I have read other comments about this book and I agree with the reviewers that say they want a sequel. I still think about Laura from time to time--she and I were the same age when the book came out--and I often wonder what became of her and what type of woman she became.

It was recomended by a teacher friend. It's quirky, funny & full of imagination. I have read books by Elisabeth Peters on archeology & discovering Egyption tombs so I enjoyed this because it challenges the imagination on what future scientists might discover about our civilization.

When this book first was published, the Hotel Technology department head inadvertently had the college library purchase this book for the department. When it arrived we laughed hysterically about it, and many times, I have laughed about it ever since.

Two years ago, I ordered a copy for the library where I am currently a Children's Librarian. It did not even make it to the "stacks", someone
liked it so much they "permanently borrowed" it.

If you need a good laugh...!

I've carried my copy of this book over many moves. It grows on me each time I read it. Originally it seemed just a humourous retelling of the Carter discovery of Tutankhamun and the Egyptian hysteria that accompanies it. Later on, after getting much more involved in arguments over interpretations of Roman historical artifacts, I realized how to the point the book is about the way we see the past and argue over the meaning of what we see. Still really funny though.

The 41st Century is full of mysteries. Like what happened to Ancient Yankees who lived in North America? Why did they die out and how did they live. One day a tomb, untouched, is found and it gives us a glimpse of what these Ancient Yankees were like in the 20th Century. Sacred items, musical instruments, and the sacred point will make you laugh and wonder how much of OUR knowledge is based on such conclusions?

Motel of the mysteries is a fun, easy read.
Everyday items are seen in the light of future archeologists, with interesting, funny and sometimes insightful interpretations. Good book to share with others.

If you know Wodehouse, you love Wodehouse and this book will just confirm your feelings. If you don't know Wodehouse, read this or any other book and you will fall in love with him. Every book you read is like going on vacation.

I had only read one or two Wodehouse comedies, so long ago I don't recall precisely which ones. They were good. "Leave It to Psmith" is great. It won't be years until my next. (And my copy of "Leave It to Psmith" now goes to my 90-year-old mother.)

In addition to wonderful, loveable characters, laugh-out-loud narrative and dialogue, and a marvelously convoluted plot that almost defies summarization, the book also features semi-serious but still wryly and deftly expressed observations, such as: "What I like about the English rural districts * * * is that when the authorities have finished building a place they stop. Somewhere about the reign of Henry the Eighth, I imagine that the master-mason gave the final house a pat with his trowel and said, 'Well, boys, that's Market Blandings.' To which his assistants no doubt assented with many a hearty 'Grammercy!' and 'I'fackins!' these being expletives to which they were much addicted. And they went away and left it, and nobody has touched it since."

Yes, this is sheer entertainment, brain candy. But it also is superb and masterly. It is narrative comedy at its best.

This is an early sort of try-out version of his later masterpieces on Jeeves and Wooster. It was absolutely hilarious at times, with that wonderful upper crust stilted language Wodehouse was such a genius at, but at other times could be a tad plodding. Some romance here, which he would totally discard later. You can see Jeeves blooming in PSmith, and Wooster in Freddie Threepwood. Also Aunt Agatha in Lady Constance. But a marvelously convoluted plot, with all sorts of interwoven characters. and The Drones Club is here already.

In my opinion, this is the best of Wodehouse, and I was pretty surprised at it.

"Leave It to Psmith" was originally published in the U.K. on November 30, 1923 by Herbert Jenkins, and in the U.S on March 14, 1924 by George H. Doran. The edition I am reviewing is from "The Everyman Wodehouse" series published by Everyman's Library in the U.K., and for those in the U.S., you may be able to find the equivalent quality in "The Collector's Wodehouse" series which is being published by Overlook Press.

I did not have high expectations for this book, because I didn't think "Psmith in The City" was very good, but Wodehouse's writing clearly improved greatly over those 13 years, and the merging of the Psmith character with the cast at Blandings Castle was great chemistry. The character of Ronald Eustace Psmith (formerly known as Rupert Psmith and in both cases the P is silent), was much more interesting in this book than I found him before. He fits right in with the other Blandings characters such as Lord Emsworth, Freddie Threepwood, and a great foil for Rupert Baxter.

In this story, we have a diverse set of characters, all converging on Blandings Castle, and more than a few with the idea of stealing Lady Constance's necklace. Their motives are rather diverse, but whether they want it for money, freedom, or love, there is no shortage of people out to get it. As one would expect in any Wodehouse story, there is a fair amount of assumed identities and amazing coincidences which drive the story forward. Psmith, himself takes on the identity of Mr. Ralston McTodd, a poet from Canada in his pursuit of the beautiful Eve Halliday. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the flower pot scenes, which is some of the funniest writing I have read in a long time.

As the second of the Blandings Castle novels, and the last of the Psmith novels, this was a great improvement on both of those series. The Blandings series would continue to grow from this point, and there are many more great stories in that series. I do not believe the character of Psmith appears again in any of Wodehouse's stories, but the fully developed Psmith that appears in this work does foreshadow such characters as Jeeves and Uncle Fred. If you didn't care for Psmith in the previous works, you may still want to give this one a try. This is Wodehouse at his best.

Welcome to Mason County, where even the census takers were baffled when they came to a town where blacks looked white. Isabel is the main character in this story. Every one calls her Belly in Mason County. That all changes when a series of events after her childhood friend Teeny got pregnant, led her to Jamison county to stay with her Aunt Rachel. She takes piano lessons from a woman name Ophelia that calls her Isabel, shows her what a real lady is, wins over her heart, and also the heart of Uncle Avery, Aunt Rachel's husband. This causes a lot of problems in Belly's life and causes her to learn a lot life's lessons pretty early. This book was written very beautifully and opened my heart back up to my childhood. I won't tell the rest of the story but all of the characters were endearing and I'll never forget them.

Revisit childhood and relive it in a marvelous way! I felt that I grew up with Belly during the tale of "Miss Ophelia". After reading how her family interacted with each other, their personalities and histories, I felt like I knew them. I laughed out loud at their antics and conversations. You probably will too!

The book seems to start off a little slow in the beginning, but don't let that fool you. This is one to savor. It takes time to get to know this family and watch Isabel (Belly) come of age. While there were events that many of us could relate to, this book lacked the over-the-top, crazy drama that can be found in some other books about childhood family experiences. How refreshing! Belly actually had a good childhood! It was joy to read about. She also had some tough issues to deal with, and this kept the book grounded in reality.

Belly spent part of an important summer taking piano lessons from Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia left a powerful influence on Belly, and their time together was a "defining moment" in Belly's life. The way the author described their interaction and other aspects of Belly's life before and after was beautiful. I could picture everything, but the writing style wasn't too wordy. The style was very natural, and the characters seemed so authentic.

I took my time reading this book and looked forward to reading it every time I picked it up. I felt so contented while reading it and satisfied even after I'd finished it. I highly recommend this book. Reading it is time well spent.

This story is sooooo wonderfully written and told. This is one hot summer that readers will surely enjoy. The summer heat is not just in temperature, the heat also rises from the pages in the form of anger and passion.

This story of young Isabel (Belly) is very endearing. Each summer, Belly visits with her aunt and uncle in rural Virginia. She learns lessons that are never taught in summer school. When Miss Ophelia teaches Belly to play the piano, she also teaches her life lessons about love, friendship, responsibility, and accountability.

Though she appears to be very quiet, Miss Ophelia has deep passions about music and love which she eventually shares with others. You will enjoy the music as well as those who play it!

this book was an excellent read. it captured the whole time era and gracefuly put it into words. the author of this book seems to draw the reader into being a part of the novel. she gives you the sense of being there as a bystander, watching and understanding Belly's life that summer. i love the plot, the use of words and the key message. of friendship. i hope this isn't the last piece of work by this author. i highly recommend this book. you'll never want to put it down, and will continuosly find yourself hoping that it never ends.

This book hit me where the heart is!!! The characters: Belly, Willie, Miss Janie, Miss Rachel, Mama, Uncle Avery, Miss Pheenie, And of course, the lovely and dearest of all, Miss Ophelia. When I first got into the book,( first quarter of the book),It primarily focused on teen pregnancy and the main character (Belly's) best friend, Teenie getting sent away to get "rid of her problem", which hurt Isabel Anderson/Walker.
The way the book portrays Miss Opelia, and her warm and kind personality was so well-written, that in the end, I cried, thinking about the True love that could never be, between...
Oh!!!!! Youre just going to have to read the book and see why most of these people(including myself, of course) rated this book 5 stars.

Every once in a great while, you as a reader are given the opportunity to read something that will "impact you forever". It is rare and usually unexpected, but the feeling of "I'm reading something magical!" stays with you long after you turn the last page. The Outsider is one of those rare gems.

I hesitate to even review this book. I want to "do it justice" and communicate effectively just why you need to purchase, not just read, this incredible story.

The plot is simple. An Amish woman belonging to a sect called the "Plain People" is widowed and raising her 10 year son. Her life changes when an "Outsider", hence the title, staggers onto her property shot and half dead. All people who are not Plain are considered outsiders and "lost" people. Of course, Rachel takes him in, prays for him, and nurses him back to health. Johnny Cain is the Outsider. For as good and innocent as Rachel is, Johnny is her counterpoint. He is an admitted killer and has seen and done evil. This is their story.

Rachel Yoder is a hero in my book. She displays courage, determination, empathy, and a faith that (although frustrating at times) was REAL and authentic. She lived her faith in her everyday actions and words. I quickly came to care very deeply for her and wanted happiness for her. Johnny Cain drops into her lap and BRINGS BACK HER LAUGHTER! I loved it. He taught her how to laugh and have fun, something that had been missing since her husband passed away and the burden of single-parenthood was overwhelming at times.

Johnny Cain just might be my favorite hero EVER. At first he seemed so "bad", but you quickly come to see a different side to this complex character. Unfortunately, you are not let into his head until towards the end of the book, but his actions speak volumes about how he feels about Rachel and her son Benjo. Rachel comes into Johnny's life and TEACHES HIM HOW TO LOVE AND ALL ABOUT FAITH. It is this aspect of the book that is absolutely magical. At one point he says "I don't believe in anything..but I believe in you".

The descriptions of the Plain life, sheep farming, and the small surrounding community are all wonderful and important, but it is the deep and abiding love that gets planted, takes seed, and grows between Rachel, Johnny, and Benjo that sets this one apart.

There are very few sex scenes, and those present are discreet, subtle, and vague.....it doesn't matter. I am a romance reader that likes the payoff of a great love scene. I never thought I'd say this, but this book might be too good for that. The "love scenes" really have nothing to do with the act of sex, but more center around their interaction outside of the bedroom. There is definitely passion (don't get me wrong), but the love these two share transcends passion. It is a soul connection.

I don't know what else to say? If you've been in a reading slump and are looking for something incredible, gut wrenching, and lasting...look no further. I've read all of Penelope Williamson's books and they all provide that "special something" that is so rare in fiction today, but The Outsider is her MASTERPIECE in my opinion and just should not be missed.

although the movie doesnt compare.. AT ALL!! Penelope Williamson is by far my favorite author.. and this book is a great read.. you fall in love with everyone in the book, and whens its over you wished you could continue with them!

Although I am not usually a big fan of the typical Romance genre, (which to me has one dimensional charactors and a very predictable story line) this book seemed like so much more. I am sure some will say the story is "predictable", but I felt as though it certainly was believable and there was more of an exploration of human nature with the "good and evil" being not so clear-cut but rather having lots of "gray areas". For instance, the "Plain People" or Amish of the book who feel they are so "holy" and "closer to God than the "Unbelievers" who don't belong to their religion, in some instances are shown to exhibit the very human foibles of jealousy, anger, and mean-spiritedness and the "Outsider" who is a "cold-blooded" killer is shown in instances where great restraint and a giving and kind nature is illustrated. Some of the Amish in the book are very rigid in their thinking and acting and yet you see where Rachel is less rigid and gives more thought to life and sees things in much less "black and white" issues.

I also liked the two main charactors of the book and if you "like" the charactors you can't help but like the book. I also liked the story but would have liked a little less time spent on exploring the lives of some of the peripheral charactors in the book, such as the town doctor and the prostitute and a little more on the two main charactors. I also wish the author had written this book with some perspective of the inner thoughts and feelings of the "Outsider" but perhaps she did not because he was supposed to be an enigma, a mystery man.

All in all, I highly recommend the book. I also recommend the DVD which closely follows the book.

I love Penelope Williamson is one of my favorite authors, and I've read my share of them ,till nowadays I must have read 400 historical and contemporaneal romance novels, I am a compulsive reader, and I consider this book wonderful ,it was the first I had read of this author and I liked it so much that I've read all of her books,save the suspence ones, I really got upset when I knew she had changed of genre.What a pity!
I advise you to read it, you won't be disappointed.

This book reminded me of the movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford.

Boy, do I love this author's style of writing.

I felt like this story ended abruptly. I'm still wondering what happened with Marliee and Lucas and if Rachel's family ever spoke to her again, but then again perhaps wanting more is the measure of a good novel.

Page-Turning Southern Novels!

Shadow of Dreams Book Review by Barbara Robinson
The novel is full of realistic Southern characters. If you love Southern novels, don't miss out on this one! Shadow of Dreams by Eva Marie Everson and G. W. Francis Chadwick is a well-written, well-developed novel full of foreshadowing. The main character serves as an excellent example of what happens to many young teens glamorized by the big city and running from problems at home. Instead of the prodigal son, the main character, Katie, is the prodigal daughter. I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen to Katie and her husband, and the bad guys. I loved the way the authors used literature for clues. I also loved the way the small-town Georgia guys protected their own and took care of the big-city guys. These authors do not preach, but they certainly know how to spin a tale that could serve to help others. These authors offer much insight, and a reflective reader will benefit from the experience of having read this novel. A good, reflective reader will find that this book is about many things that connect to life in such a way, it can't help but be realistic. The characters are realistic, not mere shells of characters. The way they talk and the things they say, the dialogue, provide that realistic touch to make them come to life. Katie's mom is really a Southern character. It is ironic that she seems to treat Katie as her own mother treated her, but she does not realize this.

Summon the Shadows Book Review

By Barbara Robinson

Summon the Shadows by Eva Marie Everson and G. W. Francis Chadwick is the second novel in a trilogy you won't want to miss. Katie, the main character loses her husband, but refuses to believe he is dead. She is forced to take over his business, running a posh hotel, as she faithfully waits for his return. Her faith in God sees her through. Katie remembers her roots and from where she has come. While being thankful to God for her own escape from the world of exotic dancing, she tries to help three other dancers find their escape by offering them jobs in the hotel. Looking back unable to let go of her past, one dancer secretly returns to the exotic dancing.

This book will not offend anyone with its subtle message of God's caring and love. Everson and Chadwick have interwoven the hope, love, and joy of His message throughout this exciting journey of Katie's life. Katie escapes the evil plot of others with the Lord's protection. Her faith and belief in God see her through the trials and tribulations she encounters at the hands of others. Even with so much turmoil in her own life, she still finds the time to love and care for others and opens her heart and hotel to saving the three dancers and turning their lives around.

This novel will keep you turning pages to find out what fate befalls the dancer who returns to exotic dancing. You will be on the edge of your seat wondering if Katie's husband will reappear, when she starts receiving gifts from an unknown admirer. Next, you will hold your breath as you await Katie's fate at the hands of so-called trusted friends who worked in her hotel. This novel is full of plot twists that make savory reading. Curl up with wonderful winter reads just in time for Christmas with this trilogy available through www.amazon.com because you won't want to miss a single book! What wonderful gifts of reading your presents may offer others!

Shadows of Light Book Review
By Eva Marie Everson
Book Reviewer: Barbara Robinson, Avid Reader and Passionate Writer, Educator

Shadows of Light is a page-turner with a Christian message delicately interwoven, so that the novel does not come off as preachy. Yet, it clearly delivers a much-needed message of God's love and forgiveness and how none of us are perfect. We all need loving kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and redemption, and the set of three novels in this collection clearly provide this message. Shadows of Light is the concluding book in the three-part series, one you will not want to put down until you see how it ends.

This final novel in the series of three illustrates how prayer and faith work in real life. Katie, the main character holds on to her faith, like the treasure it is, until her husband returns. She never gives up on him. Even when he returns and things are not picture perfect, she understands, has compassion, forgives, and continues to have faith in God. Maggie, the housekeeper, also models faith and how prayer works. She is not afraid of death and meeting her maker. In fact, she illustrates how she looks forward to doing so, and she tries to encourage Ben's faith. Just as in real life, all family members do not always share the same faith or amount of faith, but the novel displays a fine example of how one can model faith and belief in the power of prayer without preaching. One of my favorite parts of this novel is how Maggie is found with her finger marking a Bible verse and how Katie remembers the small things about Maggie, like where she kept Katie's slippers. For, when we lose our loved ones, it is always the small, simple things we miss the most about them.

Another favorite part is the epilogue and how the novel ends. I won't spoil the ending for you though. Read the book and find out for yourself! The ending ties in with an ongoing theme from the other two books as well as the third novel and wraps things up nicely like a well-wrapped Christmas gift. These novels would make great stocking stuffers for the readers in your life.

The novel also illustrates a love story and romance between Ben and Katie, the two main characters. It is very realistic to life and provides insight for the reader. If you like Southern novels, romance, or love stories, do not miss this delightful book. In fact, you won't want to miss a single one of the three.

This novel is full of plot twists that make savory reading. Curl up with wonderful winter reads just in time for Christmas with this trilogy available through www.amazon.com because you won't want to miss a single book from the collection: Summon the Shadows, Shadow of Dreams, and last, Shadows of Light.What wonderful gifts of reading your presents may offer others! Check out all of Eva Marie Everson's other great books online.

I'm hesitant to give low review to any author but felt compelled to do so because I was so disillusioned by the other reviews.

I kept waiting for something to happen in this novel and when it did, I was disappointed. It seemed that the entire book was written for the "surprise" ending which was overly dramatic and too unrealistic to be believable.

Then again, I had just read Francine Rivers' "Redeeming Love" and not much compares to that, now does it?

Eva Marie's series is fabulous. I couldn't wait to find the time to read the next page. I fell in love with Katie and hope there are plans to read more of her. Eva Marie's 3 books in this series is filled with exciting plot twists, suspense, and drew me closer to the Lord, plus making me even more appreciative of my wonderful husband. These books are delightful!

Once I started reading, I could not put it down. The characters and storylines are so realistic. I feel I know Katie personally (we are both from Georgia, after all). The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat with anticipation and the love between Ben and Katie warmed by heart. This is definitely a must read and will keep you coming back for more!

The prodigal daughter returns to her southern home after twenty-five years of absence. Katie runs from her problems, and she discovers she needs to make things right with God before she can solve her problems. This book was intriguing and suspenseful, and there were times when I was sitting on the edge of my seat! The characters were well-developed, and I'm anxious to start the sequal!

I liked the Singapore Grip, but the Siege of Krishnapur stunned me. It was wry, light and devastatingly apt at developing each character. He took no prisoners as the clueless denizens of the Raj came to realize, or not, the depth of their ignorance and folly. Loved it.

The Indian mutiny of 1857 sees the cantoment of Krishnapur besieged by sepoys. For three months Mr Hopkins (the collector) galvanises the British community in resisting the onslaught...
This book is superbly written and often reminds one of the style of George Elliot. It is both witty and profound and wonderfully researched and charactorized.Like the best of Elliot,Farrell uses his narrative to inform on other topics-the great cholera debate;the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace- and questions the basis of what culture actually lends to civilisation.
Books like this just don't get written these days.

Paul Scott wrote in his RAJ QUARTET that it was in India during the last days of the Raj that the British came to the end of themselves as they were. In this superb Booker Prize-winning novel written concurrently with the QUARTET (and which casts a similar cold eye towards the British imperial ambitions in India), J. G. Farrell shows how the Raj itself was formed and how it already carried within it in embryo the seeds of the destruction for the entire Empire. The novel takes place in a city in Northeastern India during 1857, the year of the Great Sepoy Rebellion: the British stationed in Krishnapur hear vague rumors of what they will call "The Mutiny" from faraway towns but are mostly unwilling to take them seriously. The ensuing siege they endure carries on for months as they wait for help to relieve them; though slowly forced to an absolute subsistence level--and then to even less--, they refuse to relinquish the habits of social conditioning that have made them already who they are. Social snobbery, physical modesty, gender segregation: all remain firmly ensconced even as their physical conditions start deteriorating so greatly they start dying in large numbers.

The novel's subject would seem to suggest that the novel would make for almost unbearable reading: oddly it does not, because the characters of the novel (who are almost entirely British) maintain such a droll and uncomprehending attitude towards their conditions, no matter how desperate things seem. Thus, since Farrell focalizes his narrative mostly through his thoughts, everything seems unreal throughout the entire siege and not quite so nightmarish as it might have been had he used a more distanced narrator. The work is in part a parody of old-fashioned "Mutiny novels," so you should know that the ending is very much in keeping with those kinds of novels (which proliferated throughout the Empire during the latter half of the nineteenth century); characteristically, however, Farrell puts his own intelligent spin on things, so even if the ending you had been expecting does occur it doesn't in the way you had expected. This is the second, and perhaps most famous, of the three superb works of Farrell's "Empire" trilogy which beautifully illustrates the conditions of Empire described in another nearly coeval work, Jan Morris's famous PAX BRITTANICA trilogy. It's exciting, amusing, intelligent, and greatly worth reading.

This is an excellent novel about the Sepoy Mutiny in India in 1857. The focus of the story is the siege of the British Civil Service enclave at Krishanpur (historically this was the siege of Lucknow). A group of Sepoy soldiers was given new rifle cartridges that were wrapped in greased paper, and the paper was removed by biting it off with one's teeth. The word spread was that this grease was animal grease, which was an insult to religion. The sepoys mutinied, killed their superior British officers, and started marauding across India.

Hearing about the mutiny the (tax) Collector in Krishnapur had ramparts built around the British buildings in Krishnapur. Shortly afterwards the Sepoys attacked in waver after wave for a period of several months. Surprisingly author Farrell describes the sufferings of those besieged with a good deal of humor, humor that pricks holes in the pompous beliefs and attitudes of 19th century British colonizers. We bring them progress, a superior civilization, yet they turn on us marvels the Collector. The condescension doesn't stop with the Indians. At one point the Collector speaks to the British women in the enclave, and silently thinks that in reality women are really useless creatures. It is the men of the world that shoulder the responsibility of getting things done. The padre runs around telling everyone that God is punishing them for their sinful behavior. A new school and an old school doctor constantly disagree over medical treatment. In perhaps the funniest scene of the book the old doctor contracts cholera, and instructs his aides to cover him with mustard plasters. The young doctor, who is aware that cholera victims die from dehydration, initiates a saline IV every time the old doc sinks into a coma. The IV brings him around, and he immediately pulls out the IV and insists on getting his mustard plasters, following which he soon sinks back into a coma. Back goes the IV and the doc becomes conscious again. This cycle goes on and on and becomes hysterically funny.

The British thought they were doing wonderful things for the Indians, but the harsh reality of it is they were creating harsh lives for their colonial subjects. The sepoys, for example, were paid near starvation wages. This is an important novel about the misguided philosophy behind imperialism. Perhaps there is a lesson here for us Americans. Should we really be focused on bringing our way of life to other countries?

"The Siege of Krishnapur', the second of J.G. Farrell's now classic works on the British Empire, (see also Troubles (New York Review Books Classics) and The Singapore Grip (New York Review Books Classics)) is a fictionalized account of the Siege of Lucknow during the Great Mutiny of 1857-1858 (aka the Sepoy Rebellion). The mutiny or rebellion, depending on one's point of view, was ultimately defeated by the British and led to the replacement of East India Company rule by direct British governance under the Raj.

Farrell masterfully recreates the insular British upper-class life in India - and the siege only intensifies this insularity. As the siege drags on and on, the inhabitants strive to maintain expected standards of behavior and decorum. Farrell populates his book with interesting characters who debate and dispute morality, religion, progress, and civilization.

Excellent introductions are a hallmark of the New York Review of Books Classics and the introduction to this volume by Pankaj Mishra places the book in historical and cultural context and adds significant value.

Highest Recommendation.

This is my favorite book. When I think of it, I recall being touched deeply as a child and haunted ever-after as one can be after waking from the most precious of dreams, trying to relate that experience to the waking world and having no choice but to relinquish it. While this might be described as a children's fiction, I still cannot understand how Mr. Davidson could have invented this narrative experience without either strong inspiration from realms beyond this one, or (may I dare say) without having experienced such an unimaginable happening himself. I am very happy to find that this book is getting some recognition. May it continue to open imaginations to questions of what is tangible and what is possible.

I ordered this book because of the reviews on Amazon.com - I like kids' books even though it has been a long time since I was a kid. I also liked Rose of Tibet by the same author. Under Plum Lake is pretty strange - it's the classic tale of the Garden of Eden, or Shangri-La, the protagonist is shown paradise and then shown the door, cast back into his normal life. However, it has a tragic effect on him - he can't function in his real world anymore because he longs to go back to the underwater paradise, it's all he can think about. Well-written, very colorful, sad and even stressful - also it seemed a lot like an LSD trip. By the way, one of my favorite books as a kid that I found again as an adult is Tom's Midnight Garden, although it is meant for a younger reader it is just as engrossing and evocative as Under Plum Lake.

I read this book in [...] Now at [...] I still think about this book. This not only got me into reading for the first time ever, but it also let me know that it was okay to keep my imagination growing. At a time when it wasn't cool to play with toys anymore or dream about ridiculous things, this book kept me going. Great great book. As you will see.

This book was one of my favorites growing up and my brothers absolute favorite! Now 36, I thought of it when I was telling my 10 year old what I read when I was younger. At that time, she wasn't interested in reading a lot. I bought this for my brother and she took it and read it first and hasn't stopped reading for the past year! Now we can talk about other realities and about not taking 'normal' definitions of reality as the only definitions. This book has really opened up her thinking (as it did mine!) She has now read about 15 novels since Under Plum Lake and we can make references to this book and laugh and really share some special moments.

Like everyone else here --- I picked this book up when I was 10 or 11, and totally and completely fell in love with it! Although I was a total girly girl (I was reading Anne of Green Gables and Daddy-long-legs at the time) --- this book still captivated me. I read and re-read that book until it was in tatters. Finally, when I was 14 or 15, I donated during a book drive. Ever since then, I've regretted it! I'm glad to see that there are still some copies around in the "used" section --- I'm so placing my order today!!!

El libro es buenísimo, particularmente el estilo de Gabo es genial y lo que lo hace aun mas meritorio es que se trata de un relato autobiográfico. Lamentablemente tengo que advertirles de un error de encuadernación en la edición de pasta dura (hardcover) las hojas vienen mal cortadas, he ya ordenado dos libros y los dos vienen con el mismo defecto. La editorial KNOPF ha hecho un muy mal trabajo. Mi recomendación... busquen otras editoriales.

El autor es un relator latinoamericano costumbrista. El realismo magico es lo comun y corriente en esos pagos. De ilusion tambien se vive. Quiza algun dia se inspire en escribir una novela sobre el realismo magico de la tragedia cubana, dada su intima afinidad con el Doctor Fidel Castro Ruz.

This book is the first in a series. Frankly, I hope that in his next memoir there iwll be more about his literary writing b/c this doesn't cover his marvelous literary career at all.

The first sections of the book which deal with his childhood and schooling are comic and moving, with great turns of phrase and details about his grandfather and large family. What I found less interesting were the accounts of his journalism career. Apart from a very compelling section about a political asassination and its aftermath, I was a little bored. Even worse, I did not feel that some of his bohemian friends were distinguished from each other.

I am going to go back and reread The General in His Labyrinth and the novels that I so adore. I just prefer them.

Although I can consider myself a GGM fiction fan, I encountered "Vivir Para Contarla" utterly more attention-grabbing than any of his other works. Perhaps It was just the fact that he related his real life, from the time before his birth until he was something like twenty eight years old, in such a magical way that I could just not put the book down for more than a few moments. I could come across in this volume with so much of the background that made the genius in Gabo, that I could not accept it as factual. Actually I was so beguiled by the story, by the idiosyncrasy of his large and astonishing family, by the actual brilliance and intelligence of the child, the adolescent and the young man in Gabo, that I unreservedly supposed I was immersed in one more of this author's accomplishments. He relates his non precedent childhood and early adolescent years as a conspicuous reader and writer of poems and stories- which he memorized and recited by hearth-, as a distinguished picture drawer, as a notable singer, as an extremely timid person, in sum: as another character out of its novellas and short stories. He, at the same time, enriches our reading with his detailed and exhaustive career as an anonymous young journalist in Colombia, who spends an awesome amount of his free time discussing literature with his fellow workers and friends, at a time period when literature was the coolest matter to be involved in. However, the social and political backgrounds of his whereabouts are so precise and stuck to Colombian and the World's historic and social events, that henceforth what he conveys us in this first volume of his autobiography must have a great deal of reality in it.
In spite of the fact that a myriad of the characters, locations and events that we find as basis for his novellas and short stories come out of his real life, I do not believe it imperative to be acquainted to any of his other masterpieces in order to devour and absolutely enjoy this volume. It stands unique by itself!
I am anxiously waiting for the subsequent volumes of this trilogy, however due to the actual author's sickness; I don't believe we will be receiving the complete trilogy at all.

"Living to Tell the Tale," ("Vivir Para Contarla"), is the first book in a planned trilogy that will make up the memoirs of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the renown Colombian writer who initially won public acclaim in the mid-1960s for his novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude." At that time, Garcia Marquez, a journalist and writer, had never sold more than 700 copies of a book. While driving his family through Mexico, he had a veritable brainstorm. He remembered his grandmother's storytelling technique - to recall fantastic, improbable events as if they had actually happened - literally. That was the key to recounting the life of the imaginary village of Macondo and her inhabitants. He turned the car around and drove back home to begin "One Hundred Years of Solitude" anew. To my mind it is one of the 20th century's best works of fiction, and was highlighted in the citation awarding Garcia Marquez the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.

"Living to Tell The Tale" relates the early years of the author's life, although some of the book's most important incidents predate Garcia Marquez's birth. The impact of these experiences, the people and their stories, were to have a powerful effect on him, as a man and as a writer. This is the tale of his parents' courtship, marriage and the birth of their children, Garcia Marquez, (Gabito), the oldest, and his ten siblings. It tells of his early years which were spent in Aracataca, in the home of his maternal grandparents. His grandfather, Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía, was a Liberal veteran of the War of a Thousand Days. He was supposedly a storyteller of great repute. The Colonel told his young grandson that there was no greater burden than to have killed a man. Later García Márquez would put these words into the mouths of his characters. His grandmother, Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes, had a major influence on Gabriel's life also. Another great source of stories, her mind was filled with superstitions and folklore, and she gossiped away with her numerous sisters within hearing range of young "Gabito." No matter how fantastic her statements, she always delivered them as if they were the absolute, verifiable truth. This was the style which was to effect Garcia Marquez's fiction, sometimes called "magical realism." These women filled the house with stories of ghosts, premonitions and omens - all of which were studiously ignored by her husband. He had little interest in "women's beliefs."

Aracataca was a small village, a banana town on the Caribbean coast, where poverty was the norm and violence was an everyday occurrence. On December 6, 1928, in the Cienaga train station, near Aracataca, 3,000 striking banana workers were shot and killed by troops from Antioquia. Although still a baby, this event, recounted to him, was to have a profound effect on the author. The incident was officially forgotten and omitted from Colombian history textbooks.

In 1940, when he was twelve, Gabo was awarded a scholarship to a secondary school for gifted students, run by Jesuits. The school, the Liceo Nacional, was in Zipaquirá, a city 30 miles to the north of Bogotá. It was during his school years, 1940s and 50s, that he was first drawn to poetry - a national obsession in Colombia. Verse was revered as an art form, and also as an effective means of social and political commentary. He and his friends, fellow students, would read aloud and discuss poetry late into the night. The youths admired a group of poets called the piedra y cielo ("stone and sky") and they were strongly influenced by Juan Ramon Jimenez and Pablo Neruda. Too poor to buy his own books, Gabo would devour novels borrowed from friends.

While still a boy, he decided he wanted to be a writer. The people who surrounded him in his childhood later became instrumental when developing the characters and the storylines for his novels. "Love In The Time of Cholera" was inspired by the romance between his mother and father. And his grandfather, who had twelve children, (some say 16), by two different women, became Colonel Aureliano Buendia in "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

One of the most powerful episodes of the book tells of the period called "La Violencia." In 1948 the Liberal presidential candidate, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was assassinated. The murder led to rioting, and left approximately 2500 dead on the streets of Bogota, during "el Bogotázo." Political violence and repression followed. One of the buildings that burned was the pension where Garcia Marquez lived, and his manuscripts were destroyed along with his living quarters. The National University was closed and he was forced to go to the university in Cartagena. Garcia Marquez began his career as a journalist, writing stories and commentary for a Liberal newspaper in Cartegana. Later he moved to the coastal city of Barranquilla where he began to associate with a group of young writers who admired modernists like Joyce, Woolf and Hemingway, and introduced Marquez to Faulkner. In 1954 he returned to Bogota, as a reporter for El Espectador.

Garcia Marquez begins his book, however, not with his real birth in 1928, but with his "birth as a writer," at age 22. He and his mother took a trip from Baranquilla, where he was working as a reporter, to his childhood home in Aracataca, now virtually a ghost town. They were going to sell the ancestral house. Vivid memories were stirred up here, memories which electrified his imagination. This trip was to change the course of his writing life. "With the first step I took onto the burning sands of the town, Aracataca instantly became Macondo, an earthly paradise of desolation and nostalgia." His one great subject became his family, "which was never the protagonist of anything, but only a witness to and victim of everything." His is not a chronological autobiography. Garcia Marquez cuts back and forth through time to show how memory colors experience. As he says in the book's epigraph, "Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it."

Humor, dry wit, a sense of the absurd, is a trademark throughout the novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and this autobiography is full of his deadpan humor. His anecdotes of his many mistresses and cafe society are wonderful. "Living To Tell The Tale" is not a conventional literary memoir. It is a magical combination of memoir and national history written in the author's remarkable voice. It is his personal mythology, from the repertoire which birthed Macondo. The narrative is intimate and sincere, filled with bewitching details and descriptions. In spite of poverty, and the political turmoil so prevalent in Colombia during his lifetime, Gabo acknowledges his early years were filled with joy, a sense of well-being and encouragement from many people. Garcia Marquez leaves us, at the end of this volume, with a glimpse of his future love, his wife, ""wearing a green dress with golden lace in that year's style, her hair cut like swallows' wings, and with the intense stillness of someone waiting for a person who will not arrive."

Bravo Gabriel Garcia Marquez!!
JANA

In spare, poetic and very beautiful dialect, old and grumpy Guernsey misanthrope, Ebenezer Le Page, recounts the story of his life; a tale of disillusionment, loss and remarkable resiliance.

Edwards makes Le Page a Guernseyan "Everyman." Le Page represents an embattled folk community: colonized by the French, occupied by the Germans and finally overrun by English tourists.

Like the butler, Stevens, in *The Remains of the Day,* Le Page has an epiphany that transforms him. But while Stevens' epiphany is of the rather subtle dry sherry variety, Le Page's knocks you flat like a good shot of white lightening, poteen or whatever it is that Guernsey people drink when they want to see God.

*The Book of Ebenezer Le Page* is about a small miracle of the human spirit in the face of war, poverty and souless consumerism.

It's been more than twenty-five years since I read The Book of Ebenezer LePage, lured to it by the story of John Fowles's involvement in seeing it published. Having just finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, my brother and I were comparing notes on the novel we both enjoyed so much when I commented that, in some strange way, the story reminded me of Ebenezer LePage. Thinking still about that extraordinary book, I checked here at amazon to see if it was still in print.
In reading the long list of capsulized reviews, I found the following and laughed out loud: "The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, by G. B. Edwards, is an oddity and a great literary wonder, written in the beautiful French patios of Guernsey, . . . ." --Archipelago. Of course, the book may have been written on a patio, though I've no idea how the reviewer would know. What I do know, however, is that the subtle language of the Channel Islands--English, with some French added creatively--is known as a "patois," and the use of that patois in the book's dialogue is but a small part of the charm that wafts through the book's pages. I've long considered it to be one of the finest novels I've read.

One of the best books I have read in a long time...The universality of Ebenezer is wonderful. It brings the reader back to another time and place. I highly recommend this book.

What can I add to the almost unanimous chorus of praise and rave reviews? Not much. But this is such an exceptional yet so inexplicably little-known book that I feel obliged to join the chorus.

THE BOOK OF EBENEZER LE PAGE reminds me, as unlikely as this particular combination may sound, of both Thomas Hardy and Mark Twain. Indeed, for a rough approximation of the narrator Ebenezer Le Page and his personality and humor, imagine that Sam Clemens had been born in 1890 on the Channel Island of Guernsey, lived there his entire life, and then nearing 90 set down the story of his life and his world. Although not as cosmopolitan as Sam Clemens, Ebenezer Le Page is every bit as independent a free-thinker, as open-minded, as cantankerous, as wise, and as ruthlessly disdainful of cant, self-righteousness, and those who better themselves at the expense of others. And almost as funny.

For all its greatness, THE BOOK OF EBENEZER LE PAGE is not a page-turner that you are likely to devour in one fell swoop. It took me two weeks to read it. But each time I returned to it, I was eager to do so. It is not unlike an idiosyncratically crusty grandfather telling tales from his life after dinner; as much as one loves to listen to him every evening for an hour or two, one is not prepared to listen to him day in and day out, to the exclusion of everything else.

This novel is sui generis. It also is, in my experience, the greatest novel by a "single-work author." (It far surpasses John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces.") But it should not be regarded solely as some sort of curiosity. It is a great work of literature, and it merits far wider recognition and a far wider readership.

This is a book for good readers only. And for good readers who enter the book at the right time when they are willing to invest the effort to get far enough into the story to care about it. There is much to complain about. It is a first person narrative written by a person who is not always likeable about other people who are not always likeable and who are often two dimensional. It is written in an idiosyncratic style that reflects both the education level and patois of the narrator. The setting is limited, obscure and unfamiliar to most readers. Somehow those very complaints gradually reverse themselves to become the strengths of the book. The author asks a lot from the reader because you have to plow through a lot of words and page after page until you become aware of the reversal. You become very interested in the narrator's life story, the vast cast of characters continues to increase with every page but they seem more human and not so irritating, the writing style becomes familiar and essential to the story as the narrator's personality and a reflection of the richness of the setting. This is a long book full of a long life story and many small stories. The small stories are some of the most memorable, particularly during the time of occupation. Some of the little stores are entertaining, like the two pigs and some are tragic, like the story of the young prisoner. I found myself more caught up in the little stories than in the larger tragedy of Raymond and Horace. My recommendation is to skip the introduction by John Fowles which is long and unnecessary and save your endurance to see if you can get far enough into the book to reach the point where you stop having to work at reading and want to pick it up. It is brilliant, even as it is astounding that a publisher read enough of it to make the decision to publish it.