June Victorian Challenge Posts – George Eliot and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I apologize for being so behind at getting the posts up for the Victorian Challenge. With starting my new job, I’ve gotten very behind at writing my reviews and have also lost the amount of time I used to have to write them. I am getting caught up so hopefully I will be more on top of getting these up and posted.

As I didn’t get May posted, we are going to celebrate both George Eliot and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this month.

George Eliot is the pen name for Mary Ann Evans. She was one of the leading writers in the Victorian era, writing such seminal works as Middlemarch, Silas Marner, Daniel Deronda, The Mill on the Floss, and Adam Bede. All of her novels are set in provincial England. She was born in 1819 to Robert and Christiana Evans. Robert was a manager at Arbury Hall Estate. Robert and Christiana decided that young Mary Ann was not good looking enough to make her way in the world through marriage, so they invested in her education. Later in life, she used this education and moved to London. She became an assistant editor of The Westminster Review in 1851, which was highly unusual for a woman of her time.

Also in 1851, she met George Henry Lewes, a married man. He left his wife and moved in with Evans in 1854. They lived together until his death in 1878. This was very scandalous for the times. For this reason, and to be taken more seriously, Evans used a male pen name and started to work on her novels. They were well received and very popular, even with her shocking private life with Lewes. She published seven novels in her life time; with her last novel being Daniel Deronda. After Lewes’s death, she married John Cross, a man twenty years her junior. She died about seven months later at the end of 1880 at the age of 61.

For the Victorian Challenge, I listened to and loved Silas Marner earlier this year. Previously I had read one Eliot novel, Adam Bede. I have a new copy of Middlemarch sitting on the top of my pile that I REALLY want to read this month. Unfortunately, I am overbooked for the month, so I may not get to it until later this year. I will read an essay, poem, or something Eliot for sure though. What Eliot novels, essays, novellas, and poems have you read (or watched)? What is your favorite?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a prolific Scottish writer, most famous for his creation of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is an iconic figure and the stories about him are considered a milestone in crime fiction. Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh Scotland. Doyle’s father was an alcoholic and his family lived in squalid tenement flats. Luckily, he was supported by wealthy uncles and sent to a variety of good schools. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and become a doctor in 1881. It was while he was studying to become a doctor, that Doyle first started writing short stories.

Doyle struggled to find a publisher for his works, but Ward Lock & Co published his first significant work, A Study in Scarlet, in 1886. This story was the first to feature Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The Holmes stories were wildly successful. In total there were four novels, and 56 short stories by Doyle featuring Holmes. He “killed” Holmes off in 1893 to focus on his “more serious” historical works, only to revive Holmes again in 1901 after vast public outcry.

Holmes married Louisa Hawkins, the sister of one of his patients in 1885. Together they had two children. She had tuberculosis and died in 1906. He married Jean Elizabeth Leckie the next year and had three more children. Doyle died of a heart attack in 1930 at the age of 71.

I have read the complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and loved it. For the Victorian Challenge, I listened to The Sherlock Holmes Theatre earlier this year. I’m going to reread a story this month as part of the challenge. I am also watching the Sherlock series on Masterpiece Mystery and hope to have my review on that as well. What works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are you planning to review?

I look forward to reading your reviews this month!

Please post the name of your blog followed by the item you reviewed. For example, Laura’s Reviews (Middlemarch).

 

Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson

I bought a small collection of the Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson from a book order when I was in high school. During April, I reread this collection to celebrate Emily Dickinson month in the Victorian Challenge. I enjoyed the preface, which gave a brief account of Dickinson, her life, and what is known of her writing the poems.

I loved reading the poems themselves. They are short poems, but yet Dickinson captured the essence of wonder about death, love, and life. I don’t know best how to describe my love for the poems, but I think the poems talk for themselves. A few of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems are below with my brief thoughts.

I think I feel like this every day . . .

I felt a clearing in my mind
As if my brain had split;
I tried to match it, seam by seam,
But could not make them fit.

The thought behind I strove to join
Unto the thought before,
But sequence raveled out of reach
Like balls upon a floor.

I think this was my favorite poem as a teenager. I think everyone knows what it is like to be a nobody.

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us – don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell you name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

I have loved this poem since I was a teenager as well. The last two lines are so well known now. I think it can mean many things to different people. Parting from a romantic love, especially when you are the one left behind. But it can also signify to me at least, losing someone you love through death.

My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

Emily Dickinson also wrote a lot of nature poems. I like dandelions and the following poem struck a chord with me.

The Dandelion’s pallid tube
Astonishes the Grass,
And Winter instantly becomes
An infinite Alas –
The tube uplifts a signal Bud
And then a shouting Flower, -
The Proclamation of the Suns
That sepulture is o’er.

As a fan of the written word, I loved this poem about the power of a word.

There is a word
Which bears a sword
Can pierce an armed man.
It hurls its barbed syllables, -
At once is mute again.

But where it fell

The saved will tell
On patriotic day,
Some epauletted brother
Gave his breath away.

Wherever runs the breathless sun,
Wherever roams the day,
There is its noiseless onset,
There is its victory!

Behold the keenest marksman!
The most accomplished shot!
Time’s sublimest target
Is a soul ‘forgot’!

I LOVE the following poem and I think that it describes Emily Dickinson and the power she still has on us. She may have lived a reclusive life and never tried to be in the light of fame, but you can not put her fire out.

You cannot put a fire out;

A thing that can ignite

Can go, itself, without a fan
Upon the slowest night.

You cannot fold a flood
And put it in a drawer, -
Because the winds would find it out,
And tell you cedar floor.

What are you favorite Dickinson poems?

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

My friend Derek recommended Battle Royale to me and we typically like the same type of dystopian/sci-fi/apocalyptic fiction so I knew I should check this book out. Also I kept seeing Battle Royale mentioned on different message boards about Hunger Games, usually with the tag of “Hunger Games is just a rip off of Battle Royale.” Was it? I wanted to find out for myself. . .

Battle Royale is set in “present day” Japan (it was written in the late 1990’s). I would call it an alternate universe Japan, in which a fascist government rules Asia as if Japan had won WWII, but did not conquer America (it is not said how the government came into power). Every year, in each region, a class is chosen to have a fight to the death with only one survivor. The stats and winner of the game are televised, but the entire event is not. This book focuses on the Third Year Class B, Shiroiwa Junior High School class that consists of 21 females and 21 males.

The class believes they are on a school trip until a gas is released into the bus, knocking them out. They awake in a classroom with collars on their necks and a sadistic man, Sakamochi, in charge. He lays out the rules for the game, that there can only be one winner, that certain zones will be forbidden at different times (if you are in the forbidden zone the collar will kill you), and that if there is too long a period between killings, they will all be killed. Each student is released one at a time and has to take a bag of survival gear from the top of the pile. Each student gets a different weapon from a machine gun to a knife. The story explores the game and each member of the class has their own story.

Shuya Nanahara is a member of the class, a popular musician and athlete that is an orphan. His best friend Yoshitoki Kuninobu was killed in the first moments of the game for trying to defend the honor of the woman who raised both Shuya and Yoshitoki at an orphanage. Shuya teams with the girl Yoshitoki loved, Noriko Nakagawa. Shuya and Noriko run into and then team with the mysterious “brute” named Shogo Kawada, who turns out to be so much more than they knew. Shuya is the main character of the novel. He starts with the thought that no one in his class would reduce themselves to violence, but soon learns this is not the case.

Shinji Mimura, is an athletically gifted smart guy who learned computer hacker skills from his uncle. Although student cell phones are non-functional, Shinji worked his way around it and created a sophisticated plan to bring down the game. When he runs into and saves his friend Yutaka Seto, his plan starts to unravel.

An action novel wouldn’t be one without a good villain. There are two in Battle Royale. Kazuo Kiriyama is an evil guy who was born without emotion. He excels at everything, and that soon becomes an expert at killing people to survive. Mitsuko Souma is a morally corrupt girl who also excels at killing. Her hard youth made her the person she is, but she will use any advantage to take someone out. The appearance of either of these villains in the novel scared the heck out of me.

I loved this book. I literally couldn’t put it down last month while I was reading it. I enjoyed it so much; I was daunted by the thought of creating a review for it. Would I give it justice? How do I begin to review a book where so much is going on?

First of all, Battle Royale is a book with non-stop action. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. Although the book was very violent, the deaths were not gratuitous. There was a back story given for all of the characters, some more in depth than others. Each one of their deaths meant something to the reader, and really made one realize how morally corrupt their government was for putting them in such a situation. Speaking of which, I kept wondering, what is the point of this program. I thought this quote did a great job of summing it up.

Sakamochi said, “I’ll tell you now, this country needs the Program. . . In other words, everyone ends up concluding you can’t trust anyone, right? Which would extinguish any hope of uniting and forming a coup d’état against the government, hum? And so the Republic of Greater East Asia and its ideals will live on for eternity.”

Battle Royale is also a book about acceptance and for not judging people by their outward appearances.

Shinji says to Yutaka when Yutaka wonders why Shinji is friends with him, “I am who I am. And you’re you are. Even if I’m pretty good at basketball or computers, or popular with girls, that doesn’t make me a better person. You can make people laugh and you’re kind. When you’re serious, you’re a lot more sincere than I am. Like with girls. I’m not resorting to that cheap cliché about everyone having something to offer, but I am saying there are a lot of things I admire about you. I like you. We’ve always been buddies. You’re an important friend. My best friend.”

The friendships were wonderful in this book, which made it all the more terrible when friends were killed.

How did this book compare to The Hunger Games? I liked them both, but for different reasons. Do I think Suzanne Collins blatantly ripped off Koushun Takami as message boards suggest? No. The stories are similar, but also very different. The overall themes are as old as the Roman gladiators and public punishment (beheadings, drawn and quartering, etc. were all ways for monarchs to control their society). Other authors have explored many of these themes in works such as “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 1984 by George Orwell, etc. The Hunger Games focuses on one main competition a year with two teenage representatives from 12 districts. These games are televised and there can be only one winner. There is one main character, Katniss Everdeen. The government uses the games to keep the Districts under control. In Battle Royale, there is a main character, but all of the games participants are given a story and their deaths are more meaningful. There are many games (one in each district) per year and while the results are televised, the games themselves are not. There is only one winner and the government uses it to control the society.

I think the evil government of The Hunger Games works better, especially more into the series. The purpose of the games seemed much clearer in The Hunger Games. In Battle Royale, having so many different games going on at one time, made the deaths seem not as meaningful for keeping the country under control. In Battle Royale, they talked about not having enough kids and I thought, well, when you kill off a few thousand every year, it will make a difference in your population dynamics.

I liked Katniss Everdeen as the tough heroine that does what she can to survive, yet keeps her humanity. Telling the story from her perspective really makes one want to cheer for her and gives it a unique take for the viewer. On the other hand, I liked how Battle Royale made each character important and each death meaningful by telling the stories of all of the participants. The actual day-to-day stories of both books are very different from each other.

Overall, I loved Battle Royale. It was a great action dystopian novel that also had some wonderful themes to think about. Do I think that The Hunger Games or Battle Royale are the same book? No. They are both unique and worth a read.

Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Nadia Knows Best by Jill Mansell

I love Jill Mansell’s novels. She does a wonderful job of bringing together a great cast of unique characters and making them work together in a well-blended story.


In Nadia Knows Best, Nadia Kinsella is having a hard time. Stranded on a snowy road, she meets Jay Tiernan, a handsome stranger. They both make their way to a small village and stay overnight in a small and shabby inn. While Nadia feels attracted to Jay, she has a wonderful childhood sweetheart turned model boyfriend, Laurie. When life throws Nadia some lemons, she suddenly finds herself in a love triangle.

Nadia’s still lives at home with her unique family. Her mother, Leonie, was a free spirit that left her father, James, when she and her sister Claire were small. Leonie turned up years later with a new baby, Tilly, that she promptly left with James. James mother, Miriam, is a glamorous and sassy grandmother who does a great job of raising the three girls. Each of these characters has a wonderful story, but my favorite was the mystery surrounding Miriam. I really wanted to know who was sending her the mysterious letters and what they involved.

Overall, Nadia Knows Best is an enjoyable novel full of wonderful characters. I loved the story and was sad to see it end. Jill Mansell has a great way of making me care for all of the characters she creates.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal by Grace Burrowes

I always find reading a good romance novel a great way to relax when life is stressful or when you are on a long car trip. I read Lady Maggie’s Secret on our journey to and from Minnesota this past weekend when I wasn’t writing exciting reports for work on my computer. My husband gets car sick if he doesn’t drive so I am more than content to let him be the driver and read or work instead. I think it may make him slightly ill just thinking about reading or working while the car is moving. Luckily I do not suffer from this.


Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal is my favorite romance novel by Grace Burrowes yet. Grace Burrowes also wrote The Heir and The Soldier about the Windham brothers and started to write about the Windham sisters with Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish, which I also enjoyed. I feel that with Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal, Burrowes is at the top of her game perfectly combining great romance with a good mystery. The ending was great and concise.

Lady Magdalene Windham is the eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Moreland. Unfortunately she has a stain on her character as she is the natural illegitimate daughter of the Duke that was legitimized and adopted by the Duchess. Firmly on the shelf and near the age of thirty, Maggie has her own household, and a head for finances. But what she secretly longs for is a love and family of her own. Unfortunately her secret has not allowed her to be able to marry. After her bag with private items is stolen, Maggie hires Benjamin Hazlit to help her find her missing bag. Benjamin has a secret of his own and sparks fly between the two. Will Maggie’s secret come out and will she get her happy ending?

Overall, Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal was a very satisfying romance novel with great characters, hot romance, and an interesting mystery. The handbag itself is not too interesting of a mystery, but the trying to determine Lady Maggie’s secret was a great mystery that kept me interested until the very end.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

Title: Explosive Eighteen

Author: Janet Evanovich
Read by: Lorelei King
Publisher: Random House Audio
Length: 6 Hours, 5 CDs
Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

I know, I know, I just ranted about Stephanie Plum’s inability to grow as a character last week, but what did I do, but listen to another Stephanie Plum novel this week. I’ll admit that the end of Smokin’ Seventeen snagged me. Stephanie had two plane tickets and was taking a tall, handsome man with her on a trip to Hawaii. I wanted to know who she took with and how it worked out.

Explosive Eighteen begins with Stephanie returning from a disastrous vacation in Hawaii. She has a tan line on her ring finger and isn’t telling her Grandma or Lula what went down. Stephanie soon finds out her trip has done more than ruined her love life, her seat mate never returned to the plane, and he left her with a mysterious photograph that everyone wants from the FBI down to a psychotic killer named Razzle Dazzle. Life at Plum Bail Bonds is also not going well, their new office is not complete, and the bus they have been using goes up in smoke. Stephanie ponders (finally!) taking a self-defense course, but also shows that she has fine fighting skills without one. She seems unable to pick up any of her skips and Lula is sure that whatever bad mojo that Stephanie picked up in Hawaii, has come back with her to the states. When Stephanie’s nemesis, Joyce Barnhart, moves in with her, she realizes she needs to get her act together and get the many mysteries solved.

I feel that Evanovich finally has turned it around in this book. I enjoyed how the story of Hawaii was included and it was different then the format of previous novels. It was interesting to get little teases and then finally the entire story of Hawaii. There was a lot of action in this book and I enjoyed it all. The humor was still there and the great characters, which are my favorite parts of any Evanovich novel. Did Stephanie finally end the triangle? Sadly no, but I felt like progress was made in that direction. This book did make me want to read number nineteen when it comes out and I have hope that Stephanie will finally make the choice and move on. Lula was even talking about wanting to settle down and have kids. That would be great if both Lula and Stephanie moved on with life into the next phase. There would be a lot of fresh comedy.

Lorelei King was one again a superlative narrator of this novel. There is not better narrator of audiobooks out there. I LOVE all of her unique voices for each characters. I checked out her web page and noted that she has read a version of Little Women. I need to track that down. I really enjoy listening to Evanovich novels on my drive to and from work.

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

Gordon “Go-Go” Halloran finds himself drunk after two years of sobriety and proceeds to drive himself into a concrete wall. After his death, his group of friends that played together as kids, as well as their parents, reevaluate their youth and the secrets that could have caused Go-Go’s demise. The Most Dangerous Thing takes place in the late 1970’s as well as present day. In the 1970’s, the group of friends included the three Halloran boys, Tim, Sean, and Go-Go and two neighbor girls, Gwen and Mickey. After an accident, Sean and Gwen start a teenage romance, which has devastating effects on their group. The group also meets a mysterious man that lives in the woods, and their lives will never been the same. In the present day, the survivors try to piece together what exactly took place when they were children that may have haunted Go-Go.

Two of my favorite books of 2011 were by Laura Lippman, The Girl in the Green Raincoat and I’d Know you Anywhere. Unfortunately, The Most Dangerous Thing fell flat for me. The book was okay, but not excellent like the previous two novels. I think the flaw was that there were too many characters with the children and adults given their own sections and not enough detail to make me truly care about anyone. A lot of the storyline was never resolved. I also really disliked the narration in the 1970’s section about the kids. It seemed to be narrated first person by one of them, but they were also all referred to in the third person. It drove me crazy. The book moved really slow for me, but did pick up steam by the end . . . only to really annoy me.

SPOILER ALERT

Was anyone else that read the book also annoyed by the end? Poor nine year old Go-Go was molested, but once everyone found out it was “only” 14-year old (at the time) Mickey and the two high school boys she brought along, it was okay. I’m pretty sure it was not okay. It was a giant let down that they all seemed to be okay with this and just move on. The fact that Mickey not only molested (and brought along molesters) poor Go-Go at the time, but also harassed him in adulthood and probably drove him to his death at least deserved a verbal dress-down from Go-Go’s brothers. I mean Mickey actually went so far as to go to Go-Go’s AA meetings so he wouldn’t talk about his abuse as a child. Nice.

SPOILER END

Overall, the book did pick up by the end and did get a passionate response from me, but I didn’t really enjoy this book. I didn’t like or feel a connection with any of the characters. The one section I did enjoy was a brief appearance of Tess Monaghan (from A Girl in the Green Raincoat). It was nice to see she was back to work with little Scout in tow. That one section had a spark that was missing from the rest of the book. I am interested to see what others thought of this book.

I read The Most Dangerous Thing as part of the TLC Book Tour.

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

Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George

Title: Believing the Lie

Author: Elizabeth George
Read by: Davina Porter
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Length: Approximately 23 hours (20 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!


Believing the Lie was an audiobook that I never wanted to end. Elizabeth George created a masterful world full of characters that I cared about and wanted to learn more about. Lucky for me, Believing the Lie, is an Inspector Lynley mystery and I will be able to go back and listen to previous audiobooks to learn more about at least some of the characters.

I had heard of Inspector Lynley as I know there was a series on Masterpiece Mystery about Inspector Lynley, but I have yet to watch it. I was intrigued to finally listen to an Inspector Linley mystery and find out what all of the fuss was about.

Wealthy toilet magnate Bernard Fairclough asks Scotland Yard for help investigating the death of his nephew Ian Cresswell. Inspector Thomas Lynley is assigned to the case. Lynley’s friends Simon and Deborah St. James travel north with him to help with the investigation. Back in London, Inspector Lynley’s partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, helps Lynley with the investigation while trying to stay out of their boss (and Lynley’s lover) Isabelle’s path.

As the investigation starts, it is soon discovered that the Fairclough family is not what they seem, and just about everyone has a motive for poor Ian’s death. Was Ian’s death an accidental drowning, or were one of the clan responsible?

Believing the Lie reminded me of a modern day Victorian novel as it was a wonderful vast book full of great well-drawn characters. I cared about all of the story arcs, which is hard to do when you have so many characters and plots. There was a lot going on, and I’m not going to delve into each plot for the sake of time (I am behind on my reviews after all!). I will just say that Believing the Lie is easily one of my favorite books this year. I loved the mystery, and the wonderful characters. Now that I have discovered Elizabeth George, I need to read more of her novels.

The audiobook was great and gave me something to look forward to as I listened to it on the way to work. Davina Porter was a wonderful narrator and a joy to listen to. I have heard that her readings of the unabridged version of Diana Gabaldon’s novels are not to be missed. I really need to listen to her version of some of my favorite books!

I was dismayed when Believing the Lie ended although it had a satisfactory ending, I really wanted to continue the journey with the characters. Luckily George set the novel up to move nicely into the next. I greatly look forward to what comes next!

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

Title: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened
Author: Jenny Lawson
Read by: Jenny Lawson
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Length: Approximately 8 ½ hours (7 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

I’ll admit that I have never read Jenny Lawson’s blog, but after listening to her laugh out loud memoir, I definitely need to check it out. This audiobook was really fun to listen to, especially as the author herself really made it a great experience. She had fun music and sound effects at the beginning of each chapter, which included her singing the titles. She also addressed the audience and the fact that it was an audiobook several times, which I enjoyed.

Jenny Lawson’s memoir includes her rural upbringing in Texas by her taxidermist father. His ideas of great “surprises” for his two daughters left something to be desired. I laughed out loud when his granddaughter eventually brought the joke back around to Grandpa. Lawson’s memoir is hilarious because she just tells everything the way she sees it, including her inability to tell appropriate stories at parties and her love for taxidermied animals in strange costumes. It was weird and very, very funny.

Overall, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened was a fantastically hilarious audiobook, and I highly recommend it.

The Garden Intrigue (Pink Carnation Book 9) by Lauren Willig

Title: The Garden Intrigue

Author: Lauren Willig
Read by: Kate Reading
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Length: 14 hours and 33 minutes
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

Back when I still lived in Milwaukee and there was still a Borders book store downtown, I often used to pick up The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and look at it. It was the type of book that was just up my alley, but I didn’t have enough money at the time to buy it. My friend Barb has also enthusiastically endorsed this series and has told me to read it. Why have I not, especially with the Kewaunee Public Library only two short blocks from my home? I know all fellow book lovers understand that there are too many books and not enough time. I was more than a little happy to be asked if I would like to review The Garden Intrigue. Although it is the ninth book in The Pink Carnation series, I wanted to find out what all of the fuss was about. After having listened to The Garden Intrigue, I realize that I do need to read/listen to all of the previous Pink Carnation books. The Garden Intrigue was excellent.

The Garden Intrigue has dual narratives, one in Napoleonic France and the other in modern day (2004) England. In the past, Augustus Whittlesby is a British spy in the Napoleonic Court that poses as a terrible poet with a longing love for Jane Wooliston, the pink carnation. Jane’s friend, Emma Delagardie, a widowed young American socialite, finds Augustus to be quite aggravating with his prose, but also quite attractive. Emma and Jane were school friends of Napoleon’s stepdaughter and Augustus uses this connection to be invited to a party at Malmaison, Napoleon’s country home with Josephine. Augustus works quite closely with Emma writing a masque for the party, while he also looks for secret plans by Robert Fulton that Napoleon may be using to plan an invasion of England. Will Emma and Augustus find love and will Napoleon’s plans be thwarted?

Eloise is a modern day graduate student studying the Pink Carnation. She lives with her boyfriend Colin residing at his ancestral home Selwick Hall. Unfortunately tangled family relationships have resulted in a movie being filmed at Selwick Hall, much to Colin’s dismay. Eloise’s research is also being trifled with in the search for the Pink Carnation’s reputed treasure.

I LOVED this book and I definitely need to read the rest of the series. The characters were charming and unique and I found myself both interested in the past and present story lines. I love the Napoleonic (regency) era and was intrigued with the story line set in Napoleon and Josephine’s court. I especially loved the side story of Robert Fulton and his inventions. American youth are taught how he invented the first steam ship, but this is the first book I’ve ever read that truly brought him and his inventions alive. I was intrigued. I also loved the romance of the novel, Augustus and Emma played off each other brilliantly with a hate them/love them vibe. I loved how they got to know each other and could see beyond the façade that others saw. I also really enjoyed the intrigue. With so many spies at court, it’s a wonder that Napoleon was able to get anything done!

I listened to a digital audio version of this book and I thought that Kate Reading did a fantastic job of narrating the story. She had great voices for all of the characters. It had a great plot that kept me listening during my long drives to and from work . . . and doing the laundry at home. I definitely want to listen to the rest of the series if I can find them all!

Overall, The Garden Intrigue was a unique historical fiction novel with intrigue and romance. It makes for a great listening experience.