The Way Back by Slavomir Rawicz

     Rawicz arrived home, Poland, to a hero's welcome, only to be thrown into a Soviet prison and tortured.  Surviving the interrogation was only the beginning.  After a mock trial, Rawicz marched, chained to other prisons for weeks through Siberia to a work camp where he was to spend the next 25 years.  Rawicz had other ideas.
     With six other prisoners he escaped the camp.  On foot, they slogged through Siberia, Tibet and China, even through the Gobi Desert and over the Himalayas to India.  Existing on minimal food and water, carrying lice and other diseases, they constantly moved forward, fixed on their destination.
     The power of the narrative lies in the quiet, steel resolve of Rawicz and the others.  The telling is sparse, factual, lacking in drama which serves to highlight the struggle, and makes it our story.  Absolutely epic, the book works because it is the story of daily survival.  Amazing!

The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne

     I'm not sure why, but I inserted "detective" into the title of this novel. Therefore, I was a little surprised that this was not a mystery-romance.  Instead, I discovered a hilarious romantic-comedy, where Melissa Romney-Jones puts a blond wig on and becomes Honey, a straight talking, sexy girl Friday. 
     Confident, in a way Melissa can't be, Honey creates the Little Lady Agency and begins organizing the woeful bachelors of London.  You know, the guys who can't quite figure out how to dress, or  even that they should bath daily. The men who need a date for that family wedding to get their mother off their back or to cover for something they're not quite ready to come out of the closet for.
     She sends flowers to their secretaries and gifts to their godchildren.  Then a lovely American estate agent engages Honey's services on a regular basis and over time she begins to fall for him.  Of course, she is in total denial, and it isn't long before Melissa and Honey's world meet and the explosion of their life occurs.
     Browne is terribly witty.  If I were to meet her, I would say (as the English do), "Well done, you!"
     While Melissa lacks the confidence that she gains when she becomes Honey, she certainly isn't helpless, and in fact recognizes her talents quiet readily.  Her flatmate, Nelson, is completely charming, but certainly not perfect in stereotypical fashion.  Of course, she has the hard hitting, no-nonsense friend, Gemma, but Gemma genuinely cares about Melissa, and their friendship is sincere and real.  Jonathan, the estate agent, is a bit aloof and moody, but considering he's just been dumped by a controlling ex-wife, that's understandable, and it lends to the mystery of exactly who Melissa will end up with.
      The Little Lady Agency is fun, a fantastic way to escape into a goofy bit of romance.  With a character firmly set in the morals and etiquette of the 1950s, the story focuses on romance, not sex, and provides a delightful day's worth of entertainment.

Queen Victoria, A Life by Lytton Strachey

Originally written in 1921, Strachey's biography of Queen Victoria is warm, portraying the young queen as a real person, not simply "the monarch".  We see Victoria as a temperamental and willful child, managed by her mother and Sir John, as they attempt to control the power the heir will have as queen.  We see her as the eighteen-year-old queen of the most powerful nation on earth, increasingly aware of how her current decisions will affect her power and her reign.  We watch as she grasps the import of political maneuvering and tactfully holds off the men who would control her.  Strachey's shows us the young woman deeply in love with her husband, Prince Albert, and that husband's powerful influence over her and eventually British politics.  Finally, we see her in her long widowhood, managing the powers that be in parliament and around the world.


Exceptionally well written, Queen Victoria, A Life, created a new kind of biography, one that portrays the whole of a famous life, a genuine human picture where Victoria is more than the queen; she is a wife, a mother, a woman and a queen who matured, changed her mind, and shaped a entire era.


Magnificent in it's details and profound in it's exploration, Strachey's writing captures the complexity of Victoria, her relationships, her personality.  Moreover, we are allowed to not only meet , but also to engage with the people surrounding Victoria: Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Galdstone, Disraeli and her devoted servants, governess "Lehzen" and later John Brown.


I thoroughly enjoyed this biography.  It never got bogged down in minute details.  The story was beautifully told and expertly presented.

The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne

Amy is a professional landscape artist, gardener.  Leo is a modern day prince working in the world of finance.  He is also "babysitting" his younger brother Rolf, a terror at parties who maneuvers through the world with charm and sex appeal.


Rolf literally crashes Amy's flat mate's party.  He destroys Amy's "Dream Seeds", the key to her business expansion.  Leo cleans up his brother's mess, and "WaLa", it's attraction.  Amy, though, does not know that Rolf and Leo are brothers.  Thus she fails to deduce that Leo, too, is a prince.


Like a spring bouquet, The Runaway Princess, elicited from me a smug little smile and a contented sigh.  I knew what was going to happen, with a few sneaky twists being the exception.  Amy made me laugh, and her friendship with Jo was simply fun.  Of course, in this common girl falls in love with the prince story; the prince is lovely, every girl dream and Amy falls.  I wasn't looking for more.


But, more was what I got.  Amy is complex and Leo isn't perfect. She runs her own business and is savvy about promoting and expanding it.  Like Leo, she is a confident in her work life, unlike Leo she is less sure about her personal life. 



Some other reviewers found her quirks irksome, viewing her as whiny.  I didn't.  The fact that she's a little star struck by Leo's "courtship" and undone by his royal family made her more realistic and relatable.  Furthermore, she does find her footing, not an easy task when you fall for a man like Leo, confident and self assured.  Amy doesn't quiver and give in, even as she navigates the brutal waters of paparazzi, royalty, and new in-laws. 


This story was a fun, clean and current romance; it hints at reality but is also nicely situated between comedy and  romance.

The Gate Keeper by Charles Todd

Inspector Ian Rutledge brought home more than just memories of the trenches in France, he brought the voice of a dead soldier, Hamish MacLeod.  Keeping the memories and Hamish at bay for the past two years has forced Rutledge into the vigorous pursuit of the criminals lurking in the London countryside. 


Restless after the wedding of his beloved sister, Frances, Rutledge goes for a drive on dark country roads. Running from the emptiness of his London flat, he drives straight into a messy murder, when he suddenly has to swerve to a stop to avoid a young woman whose hands are covered in blood and the body of a dead man at her feet.


Her story seems unbelievable.  A man standing in the middle of the road stopped their car, and her companion, Stephen Wentworth, stepped out to see if he could help.  They spoke.  Then the man drew out a revolver and shot Wentworth point blank in the heart. 


Now, intrigued and determined to avoid the loneliness of London, he begins digging into Wentworth's life.  Piece by piece he unravels Wentworth's past, his secrets, but Rutledge struggles to find the piece that links to the cause of his death. 


Charles Todd, a mother and son writing team, have, once again, woven the war, it's damage; the unique characters of Rutledge and Hamish; and a murder into a brilliant mystery.  Characters become real, unique and rich as the writing team fleshes out the life of the victim.  And, Rutledge, well, he remains the poignant, painful hero who cannot shake his demons.


Inspector Rutledge is at the top of my list of favorite detectives.  He's real and the post-war world of England is drawn with the muted colors of a confusing time.  I come back to Charles Todd each time a new book is released, and each time I am rewarded with exceptional story-telling and new insights into the people of the past.

Traces of Guilt by Dee Henderson

Slamming into a deer wasn't the way Evie Blackwell wanted to meet the sheriff of Carin, Illinois.  Then again, she doesn't really remember meeting Gabriel Thane because she took a real knock to her head. 


Evie wanted to arrive as the professional, veteran Illinois State Police detective that she is, prepared to initiate a new state task force on cold cases in Illinois starting in Carin.  Of course, no one really wants her poking around, stirring up past pains and pain mixed with guilt is what surrounds the disappearance of the Florist family. Evie convinces Gabe that this time she will look in new directions, open new doors, make different connections, and she does.


Definitely, a procedural detective novel, the draw of the story lies in the character development and the puzzle in the plot.  Thriller is not an adjective I would use for Traces of Guilt but it was assuredly fascinating.

The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking

    I first came across the word hygge in an article about how some words just don't translate clearly.  Later, I discovered this little book, subtitled Danish Secrets to Happy Living and since then hygge seems to have exploded across the internet and the world.
     Like Winnie-the-Pooh's comment about love, "You don't spell it, you feel it", Wiking spends 200 plus pages exploring the Danish idea of hygge.  The important role of light and candles, friends and family, cozy throws and pillows are all discussed.  I started shopping for organic candles on Amazon after the chapter that highlighted the importance of candles to hygge.
    Ultimately, Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute finds that this concept, atmosphere, bonding and coziness rolled together in hygge bring an element of happiness to the everyday.  He concludes with, "Let's face it, this is where (the everyday) most of our lives will play out....hygge is about making the most of what we have in abundance: the everyday."
    I'm still processing hygge.  I think it will show up in the conglomerate that I am: in my home, my relationships and my goals.  I hope I can capture the feeling of happiness and contentment that Wiking unfolds in his little book.  And so, I liked this book, mostly because it gave me pause to reflect on my life, but also because it gives me an excellent excuse to shop for candles and throw pillows.