Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Goose by Stephanie Laurens

Title: Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Goose
Author: Stephanie Laurens

Read by: Helen Lloyd

Publisher: Blackstone Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours
Source: Blackstone Audio Digital Review Copy as a part of the Audiobook Jukebox Review– Thank-you!  I read this along in a print copy of the book that was a Christmas gift from my best friend Jenn.

Lady Therese Osbaldestone is a widow who is trying to find her way in the world.  Settling in Little Moseley in Hampshire at an estate left to her by her Aunt, Lady Osbaldestone sets to work getting reacquainted with the community and also caring for her three young grandchildren who are visiting while their parents are ill.  As it nears Christmas, Lady Osbaldestone and the three children are soon embroiled in mystery as the flock of geese the village is looking forward to eating for Christmas dinner has gone missing. 

As they search the village, the family also finds themselves helping to bring a wounded veteran of the Napoleon wars, Lord Christian Longfellow, back out into village life and hopefully into romance with his neighbor, Miss Eugenia Fitzgibbon.  Will love be found as well as the “blasted” geese?

I really, really loved this novel.  I am a great fan of Christmas regency romance and I found this to be a delightful story.  The village of Little Mosely was charming and delightful and I love the characters that inhabited the village.  I also loved how the grandchildren were entranced with not only finding the geese, but also helping their grandmother to play matchmaker.  There was a nail biting incidence of suspense toward the end of the book, but I overall enjoyed that it had a little mystery, a little romance, but no violence and the romance was clean with only a kiss.

I listened to the audiobook while also reading along with the actual novel which was fun to do.  I thought Helen Lloyd was an excellent narrator and it was a very enjoyable book to listen to as an audio.  She did great with the characters and pacing of the story.

This is a first book in a planned series and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

Overall, Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Goose is a delightful Christmas mystery and romance novel.  I highly recommend it!

Caroline by Sarah Miller

“Ma.”  A loving presence in her daughters’ lives, but also a pillar of strength, Ma typified the pioneer experience in the Little House books.  In Caroline, Ma or Caroline Quiner Ingalls, finally gets the story told from her point of view.

Caroline is basically a retelling of Little House on the Prairie from Ma’s point of view.  It encompasses all of the same events, with a few adjustments to adhere more to the historical record.

The story starts in February 1870 when Caroline, Charles, and their daughters, Laura and Mary set off “west” (really more south) to the frontier of Kansas.  Charles is intrigued by the idea of the bountiful prairie land, but Caroline is pregnant and unsettled to think about being so far away from family.  The novel goes through the hardships of the journey and the building of a new place in Kansas.  Caroline has to make do with what she can while she also longs for the safety and familiarity left behind in Wisconsin.  Luckily the Ingalls family makes new friends in Kansas.

It was interesting seeing Little House through adult eyes.  Most the major events play out the same, although Ma has more fears and reservations in her thoughts than Laura would have pointed out in her children’s point of view.  I like how items were updated such as Jack the dog getting purchased along with the horses (I just learned this fact this summer in South Dakota!), Ma having baby Carrie in Kansas instead of Carrie traveling with, and most importantly updating why the Ingalls family had to leave “their” land.  In Little House on the Prairie the government forces them off, in Caroline, it was because they had settled actually on Native American land that was not open for settlement.  In Caroline they leave as the person who bought their home in Wisconsin defaulted on the mortgage, which is what really happened.  Mr. Edwards has never been proven to be real (probably a combination of real people), but I was glad he was kept in Caroline.  He is one of my favorite characters, in particular when he saves Christmas.

Truthfully, I enjoyed the novel, but it took me a really long time to read it and get into it.  It moved really slowly to me.  I think it’s because it really just sticks to the story from Little House on the Prairie, which I had recently read with my daughter, but it’s missing the magic of the original children’s tale.  Caroline always seemed stressed out – but I guess who wouldn’t be living on the prairie?  I was hoping for more of an original tale – for example more of a story of Caroline’s youth or meeting of Pa.  There were glimpses in this novel.  There were also scenes of romance between Pa and Ma, which both disturbed me and also gave in to my curiosity.  I’ve always wondered about relations in a one room cabin.  Ha!!!  Caroline is still racist towards Native Americans in this book and there is really a good description of why.  I would have liked more of that as the racism always makes me cringe.

I’m a little sad as I highlighted my favorite quotes in the e-book, but my kindle is not showing them.  I apologize for not having them in this review.  The only quote showing up is this:

“’It’s too much,’ she told him, as she always did.  His face told her it wasn’t nearly enough, as it always did.”  - I loved the love between Caroline and Charles.  Charles is more the dreamer always looking on the bright side, while Caroline is the more practical spouse.

I really enjoyed the author’s note at the end discussing the real history and why she made the changes to the story that she did.

Overall, Caroline was an interesting take on the Little House on the Prairie story from Ma’s point of view.  I would recommend it to someone who hasn’t read Little House on the Prairie recently so that you have more of a surprise while reading it.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow – Thanks!!

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor

Are fairies real?  Two cousins in 1917 England took pictures of fairies that astounded the world.  In a world that has just seen the greatest war known to mankind, the story of these fairies gave the world hope and something positive to dream about.  The girls took the pictures for themselves, but when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle learns of them, he publishes the story and the pictures and makes the Cottingley Fairies and the girls, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright, famous.  Were the fairies real?

In the present day, Olivia Kavanagh has suffered a devastating loss at the death of her Grandfather at the same time she has found out a shocking medical prognosis about herself.  Unable to face her fiancé, Olivia works at reviving her grandfather’s bookshop she has inherited in Ireland while also taking care of her grandmother who has dementia.  She stumbles across a family heirloom which is Frances Griffith’s personal story and is entranced.  Can Olivia face her own demons and start a new life for herself?

I loved how these two stories were entwined perfectly.  Each story was an escape for me during this busy time of year and I love reading about them.  Gaynor had them perfectly set in two picturesque villages in both the past and the present.  I felt like I wanted to visit them both as well as meet all of the unique and vividly portrayed characters.

I also LOVED the extras at the end of the novel which includes the fairy pictures.  I found myself constantly flipping to look at them through the story.  Gaynor wrote a great background on the Fairies and I loved the essay by Frances’s daughter as well.  I had heard of the Cottingley Fairies at some point in the past, but I didn’t know that much about them.  I really enjoyed reading this story and leaning so much more about them.

Favorite Quotes:

“Fairies will not be rushed.  I know this now; I know I must be patient.”

“But like the soft breath of wind that brushes against my skin, the things we feel cannot always be seen.”

“With my arms wrapped around Rosebud, I dreamed of heather-topped hills and sleepy valleys and a pretty woodland stream where dragonflies danced across the water as I sat down among the ferns and the meadowsweet, waiting for the summer to find me.”

“Books were Olivia’s salvation once upon a time.”

“St. Bridget’s nursing home smelled of old chrysanthemums and loss.”

“Sometimes its betters to talk about the difficult things.  Ignoring them doesn’t make them go away, sure it doesn’t?”

“Oh, sweetheart.  Some wishes are just too big, even for fairies.”

Overall, The Cottingley Secret is an entrancing story of two fascinating heroines from two different time periods with intersecting stories.  It was a great escape read and I highly recommend it!

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!

To Wager Her Heart by Tamera Alexander (TLC Book Tours)

Alexandra Jamison lives in Nashville Tennessee with her parents. An independent woman, her parents try to force her to marry an unappealing older man.  One year earlier, her fiancé, David, was killed in a horrific train crash.  David had inspired her in the love of education and education for all people.  Alexandra makes a decision to teach at Fisk University, which is a school started to teach newly freed African American students.  Her parents are not amused and she is kicked out of the house.  Alexandra faces a brave new world on her own merits.

Sylas Rutledge is a self-made man who has come to Nashville from Colorado to not only try to make a business deal to build a new railroad to Belle Meade Plantation for General William Harding, but to also solve the mystery of the train crash one year previous.  His stepfather was the engineer on the line.  Along the way he meets Alexandra and is smitten.  She agrees to teach him etiquette that is needed to do business in the South.  Will romance bloom between these two?  Will Alexandra be able to make a living as a teacher at Fisk?  What really caused the train accident?

To Wager her Heart was a wonderful Christian romance.  There is great chemistry between Alexandra and Sylas.  I really loved the unique setting.  I don’t believe I’ve ever read a historical fiction novel set during Reconstruction in Tennessee.  I also have not read too many historical fiction or Christian novels that really delve into diversity and what it means like in To Wager Her Heart.  It was a very intriguing story on many levels.  I also greatly enjoyed the mystery of the train accident.  This novel is the third volume in a series, but I read it as a standalone novel and greatly enjoyed it.

I also really enjoyed learning about the Jubilee singers as Alexandra travels around with them on tour.  They were a group of amazing African American singers that toured America to raise funds for Fisk University. The most heart rending for me was one young man who kept searching for his mother that he had separated from when he was a boy and still a slave.

I also love that Tamera Alexander has a lot of background information on her website - http://tameraalexander.com.  She also has great book club bonus features including that she will skype with your book club - which would be very fun!

Favorite quotes:

“Every choice comes at a cost, and yours is no exception.”

“How different a man he was from what she’d first imagined at her first impression.”

“Life wasn’t all neat and tidy.  Along with joy and happiness, there were bitter disappointments and heart-rending loose ends.”

Overall, To Wager Her Heart was a beautiful novel.  I loved the setting, the characters, the unique story, and the romance.  I loved how author Tamera Alexander brought Christianity into the story and also how she talked about diversity.  I will definitely be checking out more of her books – I see she has a new Christmas book – A Carnton Christmas.  I also really wanted to visit the Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville now.  I think I have a new favorite author to add to my list!

Book Source:  I received a copy of this book to review as part of the TLC Book Tours.

The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper

I have been a Louisa May Alcott fan since I was a girl.  I loved reading Little Women and most of Alcott’s other novels.  I also loved all of the different movie versions of Little Women.  I wanted to be part of the Alcott family believing they were the March family . . . until I started reading biographies of Alcott and discovered that while there were similarities, there were also many differences in which the Alcott family struggled through very difficult circumstances.  I was very intrigued by this new novel about the youngest Alcott sister, May, the basis for Amy in Little Women.

Being the basis of Amy for Little Women effects May in many ways.  Her sister Louisa and she have a difficult relationship, especially as Louisa’s writting pays for the family to live while May’s artistic renderings in Little Women receive scathing reviews.  May wants to leave the shadow of being Amy behind and find out who she is as an artist.  First traveling to Europe with Louisa and then by herself, May pushes herself to accomplish her goals and to find out what makes her happy personally.

I loved May’s travels and learning about the process of becoming an artist.  I thought it was very interesting when she met fellow women artists who were trying to make it in a male dominated field such as Mary Cassatt and the work they did to create their art and move forward. 

I enjoyed the pictures at the end of the book that showed the illustrations that May had created for Little Women.  I liked them and am unsure why they were panned.  I looked up her paintings online after I finished the book and they are quite beautiful.  There is definite growth between her early illustrations and her later paintings after she received further European instruction and traveled the world.

Most of all I loved May’s growth as a woman. Although she was an adult all through this novel, I thought it was a wonderful coming of age novel as May works to be independent, to be a true artist, and to find her happiness.  It was very interesting for her to do this during the Victorian times, which frowned upon independent women.

I’ll admit I was a bit sad by Louisa’s talk in the novel of not being happy about her success being from Little Women and her children’s novels.  I know they weren’t her first choice of material, but they are so much better than her other fiction such as “The Inheritance.”  I have always loved Little Women and An Old Fashioned Girl.  She comes off as a bit cranky in this novel.

Favorite Quotes:

“I’ve seen you digging back into your dog-eared diaries and rewriting old accounts of our lives into rosier, more harmonious versions of the truth.” – May writing about Louisa

“You two are so similar, both so hungry for something more, but at the same time, you couldn’t be more different.” Oldest sister Anna on Louisa and May

“And the sooner you abandon the idea that life is fair, you will be more productive.  This world doesn’t owe us a thing.” – Louisa to May

I enjoyed the extras in the back of this book, especially “A Conversation with Elise Hooper” on the research and background she used to create this novel.  It was very interesting.  I love that she grew up not far from Orchard House.  It’s one of my life goals to visit there one day.

Overall, The Other Alcott is a wonderful tale of an important woman in her own right, artist May Alcott and her struggle for independence and an identity separate from Amy March. 

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

I was reading Pioneer Girl Perspectives this summer and read about The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich.  It was described as a Native American “Little House on the Prairie.”  I knew I had to read it!

Although the Little House books write the story that the Ingalls family moved onto vacant land, the land was all but vacant.  The Birchbark House tells the story of the people who lived on the land before the whites moved into the territory.  Omakayas is a young Ojibwa girl who lives on the island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker in Lake Superior.  This book goes through a year of her life as her family builds a new Birchbark house in the summer, harvest rice in the fall, and moves into a cedar log cabin in the winter.  This year the family faces adversity when voyageurs bring deadly smallpox to the village.  Will the family survive?  What is the secret of Omakayas?  And will her brother, Pinch, ever become less annoying?

I liked that there were several call backs to Little House, in particular descriptions on how chores were done at the time, stories that elders tell, and good pictures.  I really loved the character of Omakayas.  I loved her difficulties with her siblings, but also how she communed with animals and had the gifts of a healer.  I loved her journey throughout the novel.  I especially was fond of her pet crow, Andeg.  What a cool pet!

The illustrations were not as good as the epic Garth Williams’ illustrations of the Little House series.  This book also pales in comparison to Little House in its descriptions.  I thought about it and I think it was because Wilder was explaining things that she had actually experienced, while Erdrich is writing historical fiction about a time period that she did not live through.

What The Birchbark House did do better was to portray life in the pioneer days as it really would have been, not as a fairy tale where no one ever dies as in Wilder’s Little House books.  Omakayas faces real threats and death in this novel and it is hard for her to work through on a personal level. I appreciated that it took her time to process it as a child. This is the typical experience that happened on the frontier and is much more realistic. 

This is a children’s book, but it has a pretty harsh opening with a child being found as the only person alive on her island with everyone else dying from small pox.    I found this haunting and it made me want to read more, but I think it might be much for my six year old if I read it to her.  I would recommend this book for fourth grade and up, but it will vary depending on the sensitivity of the child.

Favorite quotes:

“The only person left alive on the island was a baby girl.” – Opening Line

“’These are my daughters,’ said Deydey, proudly.  ‘Not only did they save the corn today, but they caught and plucked our dinner! They are hunters!’”

“Whenever Grandma prayed, she made the world around her fell protected, safe, and eternal.”

“She spoke so earnestly, with such emotion in her voice that Omakayas was always to remember that moment, the bend in the path where they stood with the medicines, her grandmother’s kind face and the words she spoke.”

“Tenderly, as they walked along, the bird plucked up a strand of hair that had fallen loose from Omakaya’s braid, and then he tucked it behind her ear.”

“Omakayas tucked her hands behind her head, lay back, closed her eyes, and smiled as the song of the white-throated sparrow sank again and again through the air like a shining needle, and sewed up her broken heart.” – Last line

Overall, this is a story that needed to be told, of the people who lived here first and had a full life before being driven from the land.  It’s a perfect story to tell with the pioneering adventures of Little House.

Book Source:  Kewaunee Public Library

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I’ve been slowly reading all of the Little House books to my daughter Penelope.  At six in the early stages of reading, I can see that in just a couple of short years Penelope will be reading these books on her own.  We both enjoy the reading time together, but with school books, the reading has been going slower on Little House. We actually finished this book last spring – but I’ve been running a bit behind on reviews!

It was great that we did finish this book last spring as we visited De Smet South Dakota in June.  We not only got to see the actual Surveyor’s house that the Ingalls family spent their first winter in in South Dakota, but we also camped for three nights at the Ingalls family Homestead in De Smet.  Having just read this book, it really made the book and story alive for both Penelope and myself.

In By the Shores of Silver Lake, the Ingalls family decides to move West after years of grasshopper plagues and crop failures in Minnesota.  Aunt Docia arrives and offers Pa a job on the railroad making good money.  Pa heads west and the family joins him taking their very first train ride.  The family adjusts to living in a railroad camp and then stay behind in De Smet to watch the surveyors’ cabin over the winter.  Pa finds a good claim and the family settles there in the spring. 

Penelope is a little sad that Laura is no longer her age and firmly a teenager in On the Shores of Silver Lake.  She was further devastated that after Aunt Docia’s visit, the family decides to pack up except for one member  - their old faithful dog Jack.  He will not be able to make this last journey with them in his old age and he peacefully falls asleep never to awaken again.  This section had me in tears, especially as our old faithful dog Jack is 14 and in his golden age.  This scene was masterfully written.  I was intrigued to find out that it was not actually factually true in my further reading this summer.  Wilder used artistic license, but very expertly as a writer wrote this scene to substitute for the real life loss the Ingalls felt at this time as they drove off and left the grave of little Freddy Ingalls.

I love how free Laura was in the book, especially racing horses with Lena over the prairie.  I also love Wilder’s vivid descriptions of building a railroad and riding on a steam train for the first time.  I was disturbed (as I was as a child) when Laura and Lena meet a woman who talks about her 12-year old daughter’s marriage.  Lena and Laura were still girls and not ready to grow up.  It’s hard to think about a 12 year old girl being married although I do know it happened in the past and probably still happens in other cultures.

As an adult, I’ve really grown to realize even more how great a writer Wilder was.  Her descriptions are beautiful and characters are realistic.  Even though it doesn’t 100% follow the story of the real Ingalls family, it tells a good story of what life was link in that time period and it also preserves the story of her family.

Favorite quotes:

“Laura knew then that she wasn’t a little girl anymore.”

“The sun sank.  A ball of pulsing, liquid light, it sank in clouds of crimson and silver.  Cold purple shadows rose in the east, crept slowly across the prairie, then rose in heights on the heights of darkness from which the stars swung low and bright.”

“I’m thankful the paymaster was sensible.  Better a live dog than a dead lion.”  I love this advice from Ma!

“It was so beautiful that they hardly breathed.  The great round moon hung in the sky and its radiance poured over a silvery world.”

“Lonely and wild and eternal were land and water and sky and the air blowing.”

By the Shores of Silver Lake is even more poignant and beautiful to me as an adult after reading it a dozen times as a child.  If you haven’t picked up this classic since you were a child or have never read it, I highly recommend it!

Book Source:  Set of books purchased from Amazon.com

A Name Unknown by Roseanna M. White (TLC Book Tour) Review and GIVEAWAY!

It is always wonderful to find a new author that you greatly enjoy, and even better when you discover it is the start of a new series! A Name Unknown is set in England just before the start of WWI. Peter Holstein has a German last name, a German mother and Grandparents, and is also very close to the King of England. Is he a traitor or is he loyal to England?

Rosemary Gresham has been orphaned since she was a youth and has managed to survive by becoming one of the best thieves in England. She has helped to put together other orphans to become a family of thieves. She has just got an assignment of a lifetime, to determine whether Peter Holstein is loyal to England or not and for which she will be paid a princely one thousand pounds. Disguising herself as a librarian to help straighten out the disastrous Holstein family library, Rosemary finds herself drawn into Peter’s world. Will Rosemary be able to put her feelings aside to discover the truth? Who is out there trying to cause harm to Peter?

I loved this book. Rosemary and Peter were fantastic characters. I really loved going through Peter’s writing process. I loved that he had a stutter and was socially awkward, and that this could lead to feelings in the village that he was a traitor. I loved that Rosemary was his complete opposite, a tough cookie that isn’t afraid to say what she feels. I also love that Peter had a profoundly deep faith that he was able to share with Rosemary as well as with the King. Faith was woven throughout the story seamlessly. It was a wonderfully written Christian Historical Fiction novel.

It was an interesting period of historical fiction for me. I had never thought about Germans and their descendants living in England having to prove their loyalty. I had also never heard about authors being asked to include national pride in their books – I really enjoyed the afterward explaining this.

My favorite quotes:

“Rosemary Gresham may have been a thief, but she was a thief who preferred to work in broad daylight.” – A great first line!

“Fiction is a way to express mankind’s deepest heart. His fears. His hopes. His failings. His successes. Fiction is truth . . . in a pretty wrapping.”

“Because just like our logic tells us these rocks fall and gather and join the other rocks below, so our faith tells us our prayers whisper in God’s ears and gather and join the prayers of the other faithful.”

“It seems like yesterday. And a century ago.”

“And the best sort of villain is smart and subtle and so very tricky that you don’t even know he’s the villain, because he thinks himself the hero in his own story.”

“Don’t wait around for life to happen to you, Peter. Give it a good chase.”

Overall, A Name Unknown was an intriguing Christian Historical Fiction novel that had a great arc for both of the main characters and also included intrigue and great secondary characters. This is the first book in the Shadows Over England series and I can’t wait to read the next one!

What book have you read about an author at work? Did it make you want to become an author or run the other way?

Book Source: I received a review copy as a part of the TLC Book Tour. Thank-you!  For more stops on this excellent tour check out this link.

Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a copy of A Name Unknown by Roseanna M. White. If you would like to win this book, please leave a comment on what interests you about this book.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a Monte Carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to addresses in the United States and Canada.

The deadline for entry is midnight on Friday August 11th!

Please make sure to check the week of August 14th to see if you are a winner. I send emails to the winner, but lately I've been put in their "junk mail" folder instead of their inbox.

Good luck!

Jeremy Poldark by Winston Graham

“Mommy, is that man going to take his shirt off again? He’s so handsome.” – Penelope, six years old.

I’ve been watching Poldark from last fall as I always seem to be slightly behind on my TV viewing. I’m also trying to read the corresponding books to get me ready for Season 3 this fall. I typically watch it while folding clothes. My six-year old daughter Penelope now likes to come in and see what I’m watching as she finds Poldark very handsome. Although I’m watching Masterpiece Theatre, Penelope makes me feel like I’m watching a daytime soap opera. Poldark’s shirt does seem to magically disappear almost every episode, but hey, a man gets hot working in a copper mine!

Besides the excellent television adaptation, I have been enjoying the Poldark historical fiction book series by Winston Graham as well. I wish that I would have discovered this book series sooner, but I am enjoying it now! It is set right after the American Revolutionary War. Ross Poldark was fighting with the British and came back to America defeated only to find his fiancée now engaged to his cousin. The series covers the lives of Ross and friends and foes that intersect his life. The Poldarks are copper / tin mine owners as well, and I find the storylines about the mining very intriguing.

Jeremy Poldark is the third book of the series. It picks up right where Demelza ended. Ross is in a very dark place after the death of his only child Julia and finds himself at the wrong end of the law as he goes to trial accused of inciting a riot and making the locals salvage the contents of two ships that ran aground in the previous book. His wife Demelza uses her skills to try to help Ross out, but his enemy George Warleggan is on the other side trying to make sure Ross ends up at the end of the hangman’s noose. Will Ross make it and will the Poldark family be able to get over the personal affronts that happened in the past to get together as one united family? Will Ross be able to get his mine going and profitable?

I enjoyed the actions and all of the characters in Jeremy Poldark. Demelza is one of my favorites. I love her strength. She’s a fish out of water in Ross’s world, but she is a good person and is able to win the love of everyone. I also loved how Doctor Dwight Enys has a love story of his own after the tragedy that befelled him in the previous books. The characters have large story arcs that encompass love, tragedy, and copper mining, but they also have smaller stories that I love as well. For example when Ross’s cousin Verity has to meet her step children for the first time and the awkwardness that ensues. The TV series did an excellent job of adapting this book.

Favorite quotes:

“Her nature always preferred the straightforward settlement to the lingering suspicion.” - This passage is about Demelza, I feel the same way!

“Resentment and bitterness and old grudges were dead things that rotted the hands that grasped them.”

“She felt that if she was not careful she might become a part of the mob in the yellow dark, be caught up in it and lose her individual purpose and volition, being sucked toward the window with each wave that broke.”

“’Maybe it’s because I’m from common stock, but I want the home about me: candles burning, curtains drawn, warmth, tea, friendship, love. Those are what matter to me.’” Another great quote from Demelza.

“Human beings were blind, crazy creatures, he thought, forever walking the tightrope of the present condemned to ever changing shifts and expedients to maintain the balance of existence, not knowing even as far ahead as tomorrow what the actions of today would bring.”

Overall, Jeremy Poldark was an excellent book and the Poldark series is amazing historical fiction. I love the setting and the characters. The TV series is doing a wonderful job of adapting these novels. I have the next three books on my night stand – hopefully I’ll be reading them soon!

What novel do you enjoy that has been adapted into a TV series?

Book Source: Purchased from Amazon.com