Caleb's Crossing

Geraldine Brooks has done it again. She has created an imaginary character who lives in an authentic time, interacting with real people in a time that Brooks herself can only imagine. To do so, she must spend many hours of research to get the time and the characters just right. This time it is her own Martha Vineyard's area. She says in her introduction that she read about a Native American who attended Harvard and thought, probably 1960's, but is shocked to find out that this Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a member of the Wôpanàak tribe of Noepe (Martha's Vineyard) graduated from Harvard in 1665. Her imaginary character is Bethia Mayfield, a minister's daughter, who grows up alongside Caleb. She finds in him the sympathetic brother and friend she did not have in her own brother, Makepeace Mayfield. She listens to her brother's lessons, learns to read and yearns for an education of her own. I cannot imagine the setting, the place of this young girl who is headstrong and intelligent, yet is being prepared to become the wife of a farmer and to be his helpmate. There are many twists in this story of early America, many of them based on true events. I found Geraldine Brooks' interpretation excellent and compelling.

Australian author, Geraldine Brooks won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2006 for her novel, March. Other works of fiction include Year of Wonders and People of the Book.

And Furthermore by Judi Dench

This is a delightful book attesting to Judi Dench's passion for her work, her friends and her choice of careers. Starting in theater, she is an accomplished Shakespearian actor. She tells of her escapades with her actor friends and her various adventures through the years. The episode of the black glove struck me as her real passion for practical jokes and having fun all the while she is working. I had seen her in the TV series A Fine Romance and later found that the co-star was her husband, actor Michael Williams. Together they were great. Later I became an avid fan watching her with Geoffrey Palmer in As Time Goes By. At times a little ridiculous, but I had fun watching her act. I look for movies, just to see her. Last night I watched for the first time Casino Royale with Daniel Craig just to see her play the famous "M" of British intelligence. We all have our passions, and mine is movies along with reading. Pure escape. The audio version on CD was read by Samantha Bond, daughter of actor Philip Bond and Pat Sandys, whom Judi has known also. Samantha Bond is an actor in her own right, appearing as Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan. I loved listening to her read, and actually felt it was Judi telling her own story as herself. So I'm easy to convince. The book is a who's who of British actors, many of them I have never heard of, plays I've never seen , but it's Judi's passion for life that rings true out of her memoir/biography.

To the left is a photo of Judi with her husband, Michael Williams, who passed away of cancer at home in 2001. To the right her famous co-star Geoffrey Palmer, a very serious actor in his own right, and very good looking in this younger picture of him. He appeared with her in the Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies and Mrs. Brown.

Kate Taylor writes on the Dreyfus Affair

A Man in Uniform by Kate Taylor, 2010
This is an interesting book about the famous Alfred Dreyfus affair in Paris, France in the later 19th century. Apparently, a Jewish officer in the French military has been accused of spying for the Germans. He is being held on Devil's Island, a prison. Rumors are that he has tried to escape, and now he is shackled and imprisoned inside a walled shed that gives him no view or light. The protagonist in our story is a bourgeois lawyer who is visited by a beautiful woman who claims to be a friend of the Dreyfus family. She fears that his family is not defending him properly, and she wants the  lawyer François Dubon to find the right spy and have her friend, Dreyfus released. Poor Dubon is in a dilemma, he is not a criminal lawyer, but he is unwilling to give up this case, he is very attracted to this woman. He has a wife and a son whom he loves, but also a mistress that he is entertained by every evening. Now his life is more complicated, and he becomes a spy himself, working his way into the counter intelligence office of the military, wearing his brother-in-law's uniform as a disguise. This historical fiction tale is quite interesting to read, there is some suspense as the lawyer is going between his office and the military unit where he is reviewing the files of the Dreyfus case, unbeknownst by his "superiors" who take him for a mere clerk doing his duty. Kate Taylor has woven a particularily clever novel, adding to the drama of the Dreyfus case, this lawyer, his wife, her miltary family and it's entitlements, and this beautiful mysterious woman who beguiles the lawyer Dubon. I usually want to read more history of famous cases, to understand the events, to place the events in the context of the times. I had Ruth Harris' book, Dreyfus: Politics, Emotion and the Scandal of the Century, 2010, on my to-be-read list and I could never get to it, so this was the next best thing. Read the fiction first, then tackle the accurate account, like see the movie first, then read the book, that's the way I like to do it.