Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne

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One not-small benefit of working at a library trucks with it a problem, and it can be stated the same way for both: a sizable reading list. Zero sympathy is expected, of course. As the saying goes, that’s like complaining that your shoes made out of gold are a touch too tight. Nevertheless, the problem remains, especially since this space is most often used to review new books. So what is to be done? In this instance, you just go ahead and pick up a title published 15 years ago,Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne (not to be confused with Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann).

As with his latest book, His Majesty’s Airship, Gwynne excels in conveying both social and political history with a compelling narrative. It helps, of course, that he chooses historical periods abounding with intrigue. Here, we’re taken back to the nineteenth century in what is now Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. It was ruled by the Comanches, and the land was known as the Comancheria.   Gwynne notes that given how rapidly the eastern agrarian tribes were subdued and relocated, the thought of Indian resistance west of the Mississippi River was not fully appreciated. The Plains Indians, also known as horse Indians, were war machines who—long before white settlers began moving en masse from the east—made war with each other. In addition to the Comanches, there were—to name a few—the Sioux, the Cheyenne, and the Apaches.

What made them so fearsome was something the Spanish inadvertently gave them: the horse. And it was an aggrieved band of people that migrated out of Wyoming who used horses most expertly, a group believed to have once been Shoshone. They would become the Comanches, and apparently they held grudges like no other. Anyone these nomads came across were subjected to absolute terror. Torture killings were common among other Plains Indians, but even the other tribes feared the Comanches.

Reading about such torture is difficult to process. We want to sort out the “why?” concerning this level of viciousness. Was the reputation the point, a cruelty that preceded them, thus clearing their path to more favorable hunting grounds? Even if that was a contributing reason, it was more than that. It’s almost as if Gwynne knows that the reader is jumping back a little, for he explains that fifth century Romans saw the Celts in much the same way. They couldn’t work out their world. The Comanches believed in many spirits. But, writes Gwynne, “there was no ultimate good and evil: just actions and consequences; injuries and damages due.” (Of course we know that whites often saw the Indians as nothing more than savages, which spurred their own orchestrated brutalities.)

As the Comanches bedeviled all comers (the Spanish and then the Mexicans), they faced their own growing peculiar problem: the Texan. Land grants are powerful enticements. And the Mexican government quite often offered them land on what would become Texas. Let these settlers deal with the Comanches, it was thought. Gwynne details a Comanche raid on an early Republic of Texas fort. It was more like a family compound than a fort, which was built too deep in Comanche territory, a reckless act to be sure. The Fort Parker massacre of 1836 was big news at the time, most notably because two children were taken. John Richard Parker would be released years later via negotiation. His sister, Cynthia Ann Parker, disappeared.

This hapless settler existence led to the formation of the Texas Rangers. Gwynne takes us through its early days, and it’s a wild ride. Basically, the Rangers were competent only when they had competent leadership, which was few and far between. One effective leader was John Coffee Hays. He understood that to fight the Comanches, you had to fight like them. He also knew they were predictable in battle to a fault. Add to that the fact that Hays was fearless and the end result was a turning of outcomes. Here’s Hays before a battle, sounding like someone out of an old western movie: “Yonder are the Indians, boys, and yonder are our horses. The Indians are pretty strong. But we can whip them. What do you say?” Well, the boys did follow him, and whip them they did. He understood surprise attacks and that on the plains there was “no expectation of honorable surrender.” The Comanches probably thought he was crazy going into a fight where he was on the wrong side of ten-to-one odds. We do know they had a name for him: Devil Jack.

In addition, Hays utilized the latest in firearm development to level the fight. Comanche warriors using bows and arrows on horseback was an overwhelming force. Hays quickly ordered the newly invented Walker Colt revolvers, which equalized a battle. Given the firearm’s effectives, it’s surprising that once Hays left for California, future iterations of the Rangers didn’t follow his lead. Even when Texas became part of the United States, the U.S. Army was slow in evolving away from the pomp of European battlefield plumage that in no way suited Indian warfare.

The Civil War meant the “Indian problem” would have to wait. The Comanches raids continued and the various tribes settled old scores with each other. It was a strange time where horse Indians raided Oklahoma reservations, where it was not unusual to see a reservation Indian owning a Black slave.

It was also during this time when Cynthia Ann Parker was found. But far from having experienced decades of torment, she had become one of the wives to a Comanche chief. She was found in the aftermath of a battle between her Comanche band and the Texas Rangers, a fight that ended with her husband being killed. Captured with her infant daughter, but separated from her two sons, she could no longer speak English. Not that she would acknowledge her captures anyway. It wasn’t until she was asked if she was Cynthia Ann Parker, that she stood, patted her chest, and said, “Me Cincee Ann.” She and her daughter were not allowed to return to the tribe. Bereft over the loss of her husband and the separation from her sons, she tried to escape many times. In her early days of captivity, she was even tied up and made to sit in what amounted to a freak show, where passersby would gawk at the “white squaw.” She would never see her sons again.

With the conclusion of the Civil War, the same men who fought in it were now the ones holding political office. Having witnessed great carnage during the war, they had little patience with the remaining Plains Indians. Disease and white buffalo hunters had already dwindled their ranks. With succinctness, Gwynne says, “There was no such thing as a horse Indian without a buffalo herd. Such an Indian had no identity at all.”

In 1867, representatives from a U.S. peace commission, which included General William Tecumseh Sherman, and representatives from various tribes met in an area just south of Wichita, Kansas. This was it, and the Indians knew it. They would no longer be free Indians. What remained of Comancheria was no longer theirs. Sherman told them there was nothing they could do about it, saying, “You can no more stop this than you can stop the sun or the moon.”

Not all entered the reservation. Some bands still roamed free. But by 1874, the U.S. government would no longer tolerate Indians who raided and killed. The U.S. Army cornered these remaining Indians in the Texas panhandle. And with the assistance of .50 caliber rifles—also called “the big fifties”—the Texas-Indian Wars came to an end. One Comanche warrior who surrendered was Quanah Parker, one of Cynthia Ann Parker’s sons.

Quanah, once a warrior who gave white Americans no quarter (especially Texans), actually had been advocating peace within his band before surrender. Once on the reservation, he adapted fairly well, even becoming friends with the Army officer who commanded the effort to force the Comanches to surrender. This was the new reality, so he embraced it. Whereas most Comanches found the notion of private property alien, Quanah realized this was the new way. His letterhead identified him as a Comanche chief and he relished the attention he received. He met with Theodore Roosevelt and happily appeared before crowds in headdress and buckskins, often beginning his speeches with a “ladies and gentlemen” salutation.

Gwynne’s writing style possesses an energy that almost dares you to put the book down. And thankfully he doesn’t make sweeping normative judgments about what transpired. Quanah’s embracing his new reality is not presented as some sort of lodestar of achievement that other Indians were meant to follow. Gwynne notes that, unlike Geronimo, Quanah’s standing among his tribe remained throughout his life. Perhaps it’s because his existence was an unusual one from the start. When his father was killed and his mother taken, he was treated poorly within his Comanche band because he was half white. Not until he distinguished himself as a warrior did he re-elevate his status. The man who once killed many a Texan would go on to adopt two white boys, one he found working at a circus in San Antonio. He reconnected with his extended Parker relatives, and two of his daughters married white men. To Gwynne, Quanah’s optimism is impressive, especially since he once lived a life of freedom on the plains. There’s even some optimism on his gravestone:
Resting here until day breaks
And shadows fall
And darkness disappears
Is Quanah Parker, the last chief of the Comanches

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Review by Jason Sullivan

 

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

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​Helen Cartwright was born in a small English village but lived the last sixty years in Australia. When she turns eighty and with nothing to hold her in Australia she returns to the place of her birth to die. Now three years later as each day passes Helen realizes that “even for death there is a queue.”

In Simon Van Booy’s latest novel Sipsworth, Helen lives a life of isolation. She tries to walk each day as that’s important, she drinks her tea, listens to the radio in the mornings and watches the television in the afternoons. She makes the walk to the grocery each Monday but she interacts with no one unless it is a necessity.

Her practice of watching the world go by has led to an oddity, Helen has become curious about what people throw away. Several times she has gone out to inspect what her neighbors leave out to be picked up. Late one night she sees the man next door bring out two bags then a large box. Even though it’s midnight Helen needs to know what’s in the box.

The box turns out to be a fish tank full of small boxes with a toy diver on top. She bought her son a diver just like that when he was thirteen and she recalled it was part of a set. She struggles to bring the tank into her house but on the coffee table it goes. By now she is cold and tired​; unpacking the boxes will wait until morning.

The next morning she carefully cleans the diver before looking to see what the boxes hold. Disappointingly they are empty. After inspecting each one she is left with a few toys in the bottom and one large water soaked box. Since it is wet and smelly she leaves it in the tank​. ​Just as she is ready to put back the other boxes and tote it outside a small gray face peeks out of the soggy box.

She brought a mouse into her house and that just won’t do.  After covering the fish tank with plastic wrap so the mouse can’t escape, Helen leaves for the hardware store to find something to deal with the mouse. That is after she goes back inside to put air holes in the plastic wrap.

She thinks all of the remedies on offer are barbaric but takes the glue traps. That night before going to bed, Helen takes the fish tank with the mouse inside out to her back patio. But outside doesn’t mean out of mind and Helen keeps rescuing the mouse. First from torrential rain then from the neighborhood cat. Plus the only thing caught by the glue traps are her slippers.

Within a couple of days the mouse is living in her kitchen sink in a new home she fashioned from a pie box. Finding a shelter to take a mouse proves problematic. Of course she’s not going to keep it but she has to care for it in the interim​ and call it something. Its name becomes Sipsworth.

Caring for ​S​ipsworth involves trips to the library and back to the hardware store where she finds people willing to help. Helen’s life changes as the mouse​ becomes the companion she didn’t know she wanted and those willing to help are becoming friends. Then Sipsworth becomes ill and Helen springs into action and surprises from her past surface.

With its premise the novel could have been too sweet but Helen is cantankerous and her inner musings are worth noting. I enjoyed this appealing story – when I finished it I smiled.

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Review written by: Patty Crane, Joplin Public Library Reference Librarian

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

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Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11pm tonight. But our narrator does not know that yet. In fact, he does not know anything, including his own name.

Minutes ago, he woke up in the woods yelling the name Anna, heard a scream that was abruptly cut off, and was sent back to a crumbling manor house by a mysterious stranger – probably a murderer if the scream is any indication.

No one at Blackheath Manor seems particularly worried about the potential murder in the woods. One of the men takes our narrator up to his room, trying to help with his memory loss. The narrator’s name is Sebastian Bell, he is a doctor. He is at Blackheath to attend a masquerade ball that evening in honor of Evelyn Hardcastle’s return from Paris.

Bell continues to have strange interactions all day with people who seem to know him – including one interaction with a man in a plague doctor’s mask who delivers cryptic warnings and once with Evelyn Hardcastle herself.

Evelyn makes an immediate impression on Bell; she is one of the few people willing to help him investigate the scream he heard in the woods. Everyone else in the house has dismissed his concerns, for the most part because no one seems to know an Anna.

Late in the evening, Sebastian Bell returns to his bedroom to find a dead rabbit and a note signed by The Footman, a murderer that our narrator has been warned to look out for. Bell faints on the spot. When he regains consciousness, our narrator is in the body of Blackheath’s butler and back at the beginning of that same day.

Each time our narrator wakes up, he does so in a new body. He will have the chance to live through this day eight different times, through the eyes of eight different people. At 11pm, Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered. He will witness her death multiple times, from multiple perspectives.

Our narrator has been placed in a time loop to solve her murder, but he is not the only one – there are two other people trying to find the answer to this mystery, and only one of them will be allowed to leave once it is solved.

THE 7 1/2 DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE is a unique mystery. The narrator has the opportunity to gain first-hand experience from eight different witnesses to the crime. He gains more information each time he inhabits someone new, sometimes interacting with himself in a different body.

As he races to solve Evelyn’s murder, the narrator gains more insight into why he is here in the first place. As the man in the plague doctor mask tells him, this is not the first time he has experienced these eight days. He will keep living this day through these eight people until he – or one of his rivals – solves the murder.

 

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Book review by Alyssa Berry, Technical Services Librarian

A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko

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Each year, over six million people visit Grand Canyon National Park, but most people’s visits are brief and they only see a small part of this national wonder, mostly from the vantage point of one of the rims. There is a small group of individuals who hike more in depth parts of the canyon, but since it can be a grueling experience it is not for everyone. If one were to attempt a traverse of the entire canyon, it would total more than 750 miles, and typically require years of preparation and training. 

In 2014, Kevin Fedarko’s best friend, National Geographic photographer Peter McBride, proposed they hike the entire length of the Grand Canyon, as a sectional traverse.  The one hundredth anniversary of the Grand Canyon was coming up, in 2016, and McBride billed the project as a way of creating the capstone story of the Grand Canyon, in which they would help National Geographic make others aware of the beauty of this public land and the threats to it. They would need time to chronicle and document, with Fedarko writing and McBride photographing; hence doing it in sections.

Fedarko had previous experience with the canyon, but it was in the form of rafting on the Colorado River, not hiking. Neither man knew anything about hiking, but McBride assured him they could simply do the hike “off the couch.” He said they would build up their stamina on the trail and there would be no need to train in advance. From Fedarko’s past experience working with McBride on National Geographic assignments he knew things did not normally go as planned, but McBride has a way of convincing people of things, and in the end Fedarko agreed to go.

Soon the pair find themselves tagging along on the first segment of another group’s epic continuous hike through the canyon. Misadventure ensues and very quickly the pair begin to understand they are in over their heads, but instead of admitting defeat, what develops is a slow motion collapse, where each is soon fighting for survival.   

From the perspective of someone who has never seen the Grand Canyon, I thought this book did an excellent job describing the canyon and its landscape. I enjoyed reading about the adventure of the two friends and especially enjoyed the many elements covered by the book –  various branches of science as it relates to the Grand Canyon (geology, archaeology, biology, botany, etc.); the history of the canyon; how and why the Grand Canyon National Park was created; information about the area’s indigenous people; Fedarko’s experience with the Colorado River; the slot canyons; what the Grand Canyon National Park is like today; and what the Canyon means to Fedarko. 

In fact, the author is so comprehensive in his coverage, it can be hard to describe the book and its premise to others. However, all the detail creates a beautiful portrait of a special place. It seems wild to me that the two men thought they would be able to hike, even a section, of the Grand Canyon without properly preparing, but it makes for a fun, entertaining read. 

Review written by: Jeana Gockley, Joplin Public Library Director

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Fable by Adrienne Young

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This book is for any reader that has pretended to be a diver, diving deep into the ocean on the search for treasure, while in actuality diving in a swimming pool. Or for any reader that has pondered how enticing it would be, really, to say no thank you to current life and become a pirate, instead. If you’d rather not get water up your nose or say goodbye to stable income, Fable by Adrienne Young can provide similar high seas adventures from the comfort of your reading chair. Throw in a really cool protagonist, some slow burn romance, seafaring politics with a little bit of mystery, a ship crew that might have you thinking “squad goals”, and some child abandonment, and you have a favorite young adult novel of mine. The first in a nautical fantasy duology, Fable follows seventeen-year-old main character Fable as she navigates the unforgiving world of the Narrows, a collection of islands in the Unnamed Sea, after life has dealt her an unfair hand. 

Fable, at first introduction, seems unshakable. She lives a hard life on the port island of Jeval, known for its thieves and lack of resources, where she survives alone as the most skilled dredger on the island; in other words, she makes dives into the ocean in search of gems and anything else of value lodged in the coral surrounding the island. Unlike other dredgers, Fable has a secret she keeps: the gems sing to her. She can identify every gem she comes across, and can sense them when they are nearby, a dangerous ability in a world propelled by greed and survival. Fable learned these skills from her mother, who taught her the ways of being a gem sage. 

It doesn’t take long to learn that being unshakable is surface level; Fable is in survival mode. Fable grew up on the seas with her mother and father, Saint, on Saint’s ship until one night when Fable was thirteen the ship tragically sank, taking the life of her mother with it. Instead of doing, you know, something normal like caring for his grieving daughter, Saint instead abandons Fable on Jeval the following day with nothing to her name and no promise of return, telling Fable that if she gets herself off the island, he will give her everything she is due as his heir. That was four years ago. Now, Fable dredges to survive, selling what she dredges to the same trader that always comes to port, West, until she has enough coin to get off the island. 

Fable’s environment on the island becomes increasingly dangerous, eventually forcing her to barter for passage on West’s ship. Thus ensues seafaring adventures as Fable aims to complete her only goal: make it back to Saint and claim what is hers. Yet Fable must be careful, as her father isn’t just anyone, but the most successful trader in the Narrows with a large trading business, and should anyone discover who she is to him, it means certain death. And of course, the trip back to him is not easy, danger lurking at every turn. West’s crew is a tight knit, small group with secrets of their own, and Fable knows she shouldn’t trust them. But the more time they spend together, the more Fable thinks they might be what she truly needs: a family and people to call her own. Fable is smart and has clearly grown up learning how to navigate the harsh reality the dangerous world of the Narrows presents, and with everything seeming to work against her, can she persevere to find ultimate happiness and security? 

This is a book I’ve reread several times and always enjoy. While there are plot points that don’t truly make sense to me (like, what father dumps his pretty teenage daughter on a dangerous island because he is “scared for her safety”, and how, exactly does a crew of teenagers seem to defeat every obstacle a very hard world throws at them) I nonetheless find myself loving this book. It’s an easy, accessible read, with enough plot turns and excitement to keep me hooked. The descriptions, especially the underwater scenes, are beautiful. Adrienne Young brings the setting of the Narrows to life, which I always picture to be something like Pirates of the Caribbean. Fable is an easy book to dive into and devour, the combination of the plot, setting, and characters never disappoints me, and I enjoy it every time I pick it up and sail the Unnamed Sea. 

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Review by Sarah Turner-Hill, Adult Programming Coordinator

WILL WE ALWAYS HOLD HANDS by Christopher Cheng and Stephen Michael King

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After I read a good book with my son, he’ll often say, “you should write about that one in your review.” Inevitably, something comes up or I’ll have a more timely book I want to review, and he’ll ask why I didn’t write about his suggestions.

I am happy to say that his time has come! His first suggestion (which I wholeheartedly agree with) is Christopher Cheng and Stephen Michael King’s 2022 picture book WILL WE ALWAYS HOLD HANDS? This sweet picture book features a loving friendship between a panda and a rat. This book follows the pattern of other heartwarming stories on unconditional love, like LOVE YOU FOREVER or THE RUNAWAY BUNNY while managing to feel fresh. While on a trip out in nature, Rat presents Panda with a series of hypothetical scenarios that could make Panda want to let go of Rat’s hand: when Rat is sick, when Rat is cranky and hurt, and, finally, when Rat has to go away for a long time. Each time, Panda promises to hold Rat’s hand. Although Cheng and King’s book is a perfect read aloud for younger children, it shines a light on a universal fear: being unworthy of love. When Rat asks, toward the end of his questioning, “what if I do something really really bad?,” I thought I might cry. Of course, Rat isn’t asking about something as simple as holding hands. Rat wants Panda to say, “I will love you no matter what.” When Panda does say as much, it might bring a tear to your eyes, too.

Cheng’s story is poignant without being saccharine, and simple while still holding emotional weight. King’s watercolor and pencil illustrations have the same effect. Panda and Rat are primarily white, black, and shades of gray, and their soft, sketch-like quality adds to the vulnerability of the story. Pops of color appear in small forms: Panda’s bright red umbrella, Rat’s yellow umbrella, and the blue winter sky. King effectively illuminates the tumultuousness of the world around through blowing leaves and waving grass, thereby highlighting the stability of Panda and Rat’s friendship.

WILL WE ALWAYS HOLD HANDS? would be great for a storytime, a bedtime read, or a gift to your favorite young reader. It was a gift to my favorite reader, and it is now a favorite for our whole family.

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Lazarus Man by Richard Price

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If you’ve watched HBO’s The Wire, then you’re familiar with Richard Price. As one of the show’s writers, his story lines were like urban sociological studies. Price’s novels, such as Clockers, Lush Life, and Samaritan, also display the constant pressure-cooker environment within high-density neighborhoods. Plus they are just flat-out fun to read, as is his latest novel, Lazarus Man. For example, if you’re amused when coming across a random character being described not merely as “thin,” but as “thin as a home-rolled reefer,” then Price might be for you.

Make no mistake, Price’s work has depth, often finding its way into university course catalogs. Still, we read novels not for outright edification. It’s the story and characters that earn our attention. And Price always delivers on that front, replete with his trademark snappy dialogue. Where Lazarus Man moves a little differently is how the novel unfurls. There’s an initial event, and then we just follow four main characters as they carry on. It’s not unlike Robert Altman’s film Short Cuts, where we shadow characters just out living their lives. In Lazarus Man, it’s not 1990s Los Angelinos we’re tailing, but four East Harlemites in 2008. Maybe their paths will cross. Or maybe they won’t. Regardless, it’s their proverbial journeys we’re joining.

The anchor character is Anthony. He’s forty-two, unemployed, well on his way to a divorce, and attempting to kick a cocaine habit by trying out every bar on Lenox Avenue. Like some “80-proof Goldilocks,” he’s seeking the one bar that’s just right.

Then comes the event that sends the novel on its way: a tenement building collapses. Nearby, Royal, a down on his luck, third-generation mortician—who pretty much loathes his job—dozes in one of his unsold coffins. In order to make some extra cash, he’s playing the corpse as a group of film students shoot a horror film in his parlor. The sound of the building’s collapse sends Royal bolt-upright in his casket, properly freaking out the film students. Royal then has his young son put on an ill-fitting suit and go out into the chaos to hand out mortuary business cards.

Felix is a taciturn 20-something photographer who moved into the city from upstate. He grabs a camera and gets to work around the wreckage. Emergency personnel arrive as both survivors and nearby neighbors mill about, the “ash-coated” and the unscathed roaming together. The neighborhood becomes like some sort of “hallucinating block party.”

Mary, a beleaguered detective, is charged with finding out if an unaccounted for man is either somewhere in the rubble or is passively trying not to be found. A few years earlier, a freak elevator accident almost killed Mary. The event seems to have rattled her enough that she’s leaned back from most human relationships. It’s not that she doesn’t care. It’s more that she cares too much.

A victim of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, no one thinks to look for Anthony in the debris. When he’s eventually unearthed, he becomes a minor local celebrity, called upon to speak at various community events. He’s good at it, providing an outlet for pent-up community grief that goes beyond a collapsed building. The real question is whether Anthony believes what he’s saying.

Anthony’s mother was Black and his father white. Both are recently deceased, with Anthony now living in their apartment. Anthony’s long spiral began when he was kicked out of Columbia University for selling drugs. Someone suggested that he claim the university singled him out because of his race, but Anthony wanted no part of it. He knew that wasn’t the reason. Besides, his father was constantly charging racial discrimination on behalf of the Black community. Sometimes he was correct, yet at other times he wasn’t even close. Either way, he was always making a public scene about it. In many ways, Anthony wanted the same thing as his Black neighbors: for his father to shut up and mind his own business.

There is a surprise development at the end of the novel, underscoring the epistemological breakdown that fact and truth cannot be used interchangeably. Throughout, all the characters strive to do the decent thing in a difficult world. A good example is a mother who shows up to a community event to complain about how the cops harass some of the neighborhood teenagers. When a police officer at the meeting points out that her son often hangs around known gang members, the mother says that fact doesn’t mean he’s doing anything wrong. She continues, “You live in a certain place you got to be crewed up to not be a target. It’s a negotiated life.”

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Review by Jason Sullivan

A Dream of Death by Connie Berry

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Connie Berry’s debut novel, A Dream of Death, finds Kate Hamilton traveling to the remote Scottish Isle of Glenroth, a place she had vowed to never return. The birthplace of her husband, Bill, it was also the place he died three years ago.

Bill extracted a promise from her to help his sister if anything ever happened to him. Even though Kate and Elenor didn’t get along it was a promise easily given as Kate envisioned a long life with her husband. With that promise in mind, Elenor’s sudden plea for help couldn’t be ignored.

Glenroth is small, population 238, but attracts lots of tourists because of its history and a recent best-selling novel. Elenor owns one of, if not the, grandest manors on the isle and turned it into the Glenroth House Hotel. Tourist season has passed but the hotel is getting ready for the Tartan Ball.

Kate arrives on the day of the ball and her first stop is to see Elenor. A surprisingly cheerful Elenor who doesn’t have time to talk as she has a hair appointment. She shows Kate a beautiful small footed chest or casket. Kate’s reaction to it is one she has when recognizing an object of great age and beauty.

Back in her Ohio hometown, Kate owns an antique shop. She has a gift for being able to recognize a true antique in a room full of objects. Her reaction tells her that this is a special piece but Elenor won’t tell her about it or why she is scared and needs help until after the ball. Before she hurries off she informs Kate that she left a package in Kate’s cottage that she should open right away.

Kate will get to the package but her first order of business is to find something to wear to the ball. Her luggage took a side trip to the Dominican Republic and all Kate has is the jeans and shirt she has on. The hotel chef, Nancy, comes to her rescue with an offer of help and Kate just has time to open the package before Nancy arrives with dresses.

The package contains the novel that is drawing tourists to the island, The Diary of Flora Arnott, Volume One by Dr. Hugh Parker Guthrie. Also in the package is a note from Elenor and two newspaper clippings. One from 1810 on the murder of Flora who was shot through the neck with an arrow. The other is from 1811 on the death of Flora’s husband, James Arnott.

Kate heads to the ball puzzled as to how an old casket and the island’s history are cause for Elenor’s fright and request for help. The ball seems to be a great success until Elenor takes the stage. She has two announcements – she is selling the hotel to a Swedish chain and she is marrying Hugh Guthrie.

The sale is cause for great distress for many of the attendees as their livelihood depends on tourists coming for Scottish history not whatever a Swedish hotel will bring. The engagement is met with angry disapproval by Hugh’s mother who demands he take her home immediately and to Elenor’s embarrassment he does.

Elenor leaves the ball herself after a few minutes without talking to Kate. After helping with clean up, Kate goes back to the cabin where another surprise awaits. Someone has searched her cottage. Nothing is missing but now the note she found in the pocket of her borrowed dress takes on new meaning. Kate dismissed the GO HOME message as something the owner left in the dress but maybe it was meant for her.

Before she can leave the cottage the next morning to get answers from Elenor she is summoned to the hotel by the police. Elenor was murdered during the night. She died in the same manner as Flora – shot through the neck with an arrow.
Elinor’s murder is shocking but a mystery for the local police and Kate is ready to go home. However during her interview with the police she learns she is the executor of Elenor’s estate. Then they tell her the prime suspect is Bo, Bill’s childhood best friend. Bo is a gentle giant and wouldn’t hurt anyone except he confesses to hurting Elenor. Bo was born with cognitive disabilities and completely shuts down when being questioned.

His hospitalization and evaluation will buy Kate some time as now she has to find the killer. Despite his confession, Kate knows Bo is innocent. Unfortunately for Kate even on this small island there are plenty of suspects.

Flora’s story is integral to the mystery and Berry does a nice job weaving it into the narrative. This cozy mystery has a feisty intelligent protagonist, lots of suspects, and a touch of romance. And for those who like to read series (me), this is book one of A Kate Hamilton Mystery.

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Review by Patty crane, Reference Librarian

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

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Ganymedes Piscero is in the last place he would ever want to be: on a magical ship traveling toward the most magical place on the continent, surrounded by the heirs to the provinces of Concordia – who all have magical gifts, and who all hate him.

Ganymedes – he prefers Dee, actually – is also the heir to a province: Fish Province. They govern the ocean-side beaches and have a duty to provide fish for the empire. As the heir of Fish Province, Dee should also have a Blessing, but one has never manifested for him.

Dee’s father has forced him to pretend to have a Blessing, to cover up his own infidelity. Luckily for him, no one is open about their gifts. Most of the twelve heirs refuse to share them, unless they are impossible to hide. The heir of Ox Province has the ability to breathe fire and a hot temper to match.

This pilgrimage was organized to celebrate the emergence of the twelfth heir: a tiny six-year-old from Grasshopper Province who recently manifested her Blessing. With the completion of this new generation of leaders, it is time for them all to journey to the mountain where the first Blessings were bestowed.

It is a twelve-day journey, but on the first night, Eudora – heir to Dragon Province and the Empire itself – is murdered.

As the bodies of the other Blessed begin to pile up, Dee, Grasshopper, and Wyatt of Bear Province team up to uncover the killer.

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED by Frances White is a magical locked-room mystery. The Blessed are isolated from the rest of the world while they are onboard this vessel, but they are far from helpless.

Apart from Grasshopper, they have all known each other for a number of years. They have had time to form alliances and enforce the provincial hierarchy. And with so few of their powers known, it will be difficult to determine who is capable of hiding a murder.

Despite spending the entire novel on the boat, readers are able to get a good sense of the world. Each of the provinces of Concordia has its own terrain and culture, and the Blessed from each province has been shaped by their region.

White does an excellent job writing characters. Each of the twelve has their own unique voice and perspective. As Dee travels around the ship, trying to solve the murders, we get to experience each of them in their own environments. Dee’s voice is able to bring a lot of humor to the book, even in the face of mortal peril.

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED works well as both a fantasy book and a mystery. When I read mystery fiction, I like it to be slightly unpredictable while also feeling solvable. Like I could have figured it out, given enough time. This book threads that needle for me. I had some suspicions that turned out to be accurate and there were also surprises waiting for me at the end.

 

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Book review by Alyssa Berry, Technical Services Librarian

Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

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This multi-generational, sweeping tale begins with the arranged marriage of a young girl. Her wedding day commences with a long journey by river, with her mother, and ends in the village of Kerala. The girl is quickly joined by marriage to the Parambila family, a Malayali family living in southwest India. The groom, who she has never seen before, is a 40 year-old widow, with a young son.  

Unbeknownst to the young bride, her husband’s family has a mysterious “Condition.” A genetic trait causing certain members to have strange reactions to water. An affliction of which no one speaks. It is only through tragedy that she learns the true reach of the “Condition” and spends her lifetime praying for someone who can shed light on its true nature and cause. 

Through the lens of the Parambila family, the author uses his extraordinary command of lyrical prose, to weave together a multi-part, compelling family drama.  One that also includes information on Indian life, medicine, the elements, colonial and post-colonial rule, the country’s social, political and economic climate, the caste system, religion, and much more. All of this must have been complicated by the novel’s seventy-seven year time span, but Verghese makes it look effortless.  He cleverly employs the young bride, who eventually becomes known as Big Ammachi, as the story’s anchor and matriarch of the family. 

In addition to the loving, generous, down-to-earth character of Big Ammachi, the author builds a large cast of richly drawn characters that possess depth and humanity.  They are the highlight of the book. Each character, and there are many, is complex and unpredictable, just like people in real life, but the author manages to avoid making villains. There are choices along the story’s path, and the characters make them, for better or worse.  

Much of the novel has to do with the training and practice of medicine, and Verghese, a physician himself, does an excellent job of explaining technical medical issues and terms in a practical and easy-to-understand way. These elements only add to the story.  

This is a story of family, love and life.  As with real life, the story is occasionally marred by loss and tragedy, but overall Verghese has created a prevailing sense of optimism and hope.  Also, as the title suggests, the theme of water is a central focus of the story – its destructive nature is showcased, as well as its ability to create and sustain life. 

At over 700 pages, or 30 hours of listening, THE COVENANT OF WATER is an undertaking. It requires a commitment, but once started it is nearly impossible to put down.  Eager readers will be rewarded with a richly layered narrative that is as unforgettable as the characters who inhabit its pages.  Fans of literary epic fiction should be thankful to have another tome to add to their shelves. There is much to love in this sprawling, informative, heart-gripping historical-fiction tale.

 

Review written by: Jeana Gockley, Joplin Public Library Director

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