Lifescapes

Thank you, Murder by the Book

I've lost track of the times I've visited Houston's Murder by the Book, but it's always a pleasure. We had a nearly full house, and I got wound up and spoke for longer than I planned. But it was just as much fun as always--and as always, I loved seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Thanks to MBB for providing a warm welcome, and a special thanks to all who braved the Houston traffic (290 is down to one lane in-and-out of town) and took time out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to come to the bookstore. You are much appreciated!

Bill drove us to Houston yesterday. He was listening to a book on his MP3 player, which gave me time to read. I was engrossed by by The People's House, by David Pepper. I learned about it from last Friday's PBS Newshour, when Judy Woodruff interviewed Pepper. Here are my thoughts on the book:

This chillingly prescient political thriller is one of the best books I've read lately. Written in 2015 before any of the current election-tampering controversy was on our radar, the book centers around an attempt by a Russian oil-and-gas oligarch to elect Republican candidates who will favor a pipeline project--successful, because of gerrymandering. The engaging main character, Jack Sharpe, is a political reporter at the Youngstown Vindicator who just can't let go of a story. There's a large cast of characters and a shifting timeline, so you'll have to pay attention to places and dates, but stay with it--the effort will pay off.

The author, the chair of the Democratic Committee of Ohio, is a political insider who knows where the bodies are buried and how to dig them up. He also has an ax to grind: gerrymandering. (He's right, of course, and we all know it.) Hard to believe that this is a debut novel. I'm already 20 pages into the second in the series and hoping that Pepper has a third in the works.

I don't know for sure, but it looks like this is an author-published book. I'm willing to bet that Pepper will have an agent, a major publisher contract, and maybe a movie deal before the end of this month.

Reading Note: Through a process called “gerrymandering,” guided by precise modeling and mapping, today’s politicians design House district boundaries in a way that predetermines the outcome of almost every election. The net effect? Modern-day elections to the People’s House have almost nothing to do with the people.--David Pepper, The People's House

 

 

Bright Spots

I'm delighted to let you know that the Library Journal has named Loving Eleanor an Indie Ebook of 2016! The reviewer's comment: "Albert deftly writes in Hick’s compelling and opinionated voice and conveys an emotional vantage point that will resonate strongly with romance fans. The happy ending is not traditional. Rather it is found in Hick allowing herself to share her love story at all."

Indeed. I remain profoundly grateful to Lorena Hickok for the courage she showed in preserving the letters that tell the story. The relationship between Eleanor and Hick could so easily have been lost to history, and to us--and so easily denied by those who wanted to "protect" ER. The letters tell the truth, the whole truth.

Homestead report. The potatoes are growing like gangbusters, but I'll have to cover them this weekend. First freeze on the way. The spinach, kale, and onions will be fine. Feeling lucky to have some physical work to keep me focused.

Book report. The copyedited files of The General's Women went off to the formatter  yesterday. Big thanks to copyeditor Sandra Spicher for her diligent work. We're on track for March publication. I'll have a cover reveal in a few days, so stay tuned! Not doing creative work yet--that requires a spirit I don't have this week. Grateful for the publishing chores that have to be done and don't need much imagination. 

Bright Spots. I want to find ways to join the chorus of opposition in our current national political turmoil. One of the things I can do is be a bearer of better news, highlighting women who are changing the world--our world--by being who they are. Meet Ilhan Omar, a former Somali refugee, a Muslim, a mother of three, and now the first Somali-American lawmaker in the United States. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I think I bring the voice of young people," Omar says. "I think I bring the voice of women in the East African community. I bring the voice of Muslims. I bring the voice of young mothers looking for opportunities." Minneapolis: kudos to you for saying yes to diversity and no to hatred and bigotry.

Reading note. All our silences in the face of racist assault are acts of complicity.--bell hooks

 

The Pink Suit: The Elegant Practice of Fashionable Hoodwinking

This is my latest book review, of a novel I enjoyed and will remember for a very long time. A writer's book, actually, although it is about a seamstress in the American fashion industry. You'll recognize the suit, no doubt.

 

 

"What a strange power there is in clothing."--Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Pink Suit, by Nicole Mary Kelby, is the story of Kate, a talented Irish seamstress who works in Chez Ninon, a New York fashion house that has been commissioned to copy a Chanel suit, in raspberry pink, for the First Lady--the pink suit that Jackie Kennedy was wearing when her husband was assassinated.

But the heart of the story isn't Jackie's suit: it's Kate's obsession with making a perfect copy of a Chanel suit (a knockoff, in fashion terms) and what that tells us about a young woman whose entire life is focused on creating perfectly beautiful garments for Perfectly Beautiful People. In fact, when the story begins, Kate has no other life. Even her relationship with her sister is defined by her gifts of copied clothing, and she very nearly rejects Patrick, a butcher (what a telling occupation!) for Mr. Charles, who wants her to work for him in his new fashion house.

The strength of this beautifully constructed, highly stylized novel is the skillful way Kelby assembles its many significant elements. Obsession with beauty and perfection. Copying (with and without permission) and fakery as an essential part of the fashion industry. High-fashion, artistically-styled clothing as a concealment for unpleasant realities. Clothing as a symbol of role and social status: the Wife, the First Lady, Her Elegance (Jackie's name never once appears). Details of fine fabric and exquisite stitchery, like the details of a painting or a sculpture. Ireland and Inwood (the Irish neighborhood in which Irish Kate lives) and the Irish Kennedy connection. America as the home of knockoff artists. And more, much, much more.

But through a series of events that are historically true and terrifyingly real (yes, the Inwood explosion really happened), Kate learns that the world of fashionable fakery is not a world she can live her life in. Real people need real work, real hopes, real love. While it is true that "a woman in a beautiful suit can go anywhere," the only place Kate is able to wear her personal and unauthorized copy of The Wife's pink suit is a knockoff amusement park, where she is soon discovered as a fake First Lady.

If there's anything unconvincing about The Pink Suit, it is the ending, where the pink suit is revealed as a symbol of strength. That may be, but it happens too quickly, almost clumsily, so that the revelation feels not-quite-earned. This is a minor flaw, though. It doesn't compromise the original design and beautiful execution of this daringly ambitious novel. Read it, enjoy it, but most of all think about it.

And then go look in your closet.

Reading note. The silk was as iridescent as pearls; it didn’t even seem to be real. Kate took a match to a thread just to make sure. True silk burns slowly. And this had. Then she had checked the bolt for its voice, the silk voice. Real silk sings in a very particular manner when the pieces are rubbed together. And it sang. It sang with the softness of wings. The silk was real— and daunting.--The Pink Suit, Nicole Kelby