Karen Charbonneau

This extremely well written historical novel is set in 17th century Brittany and Paris, around the life of a Breton peasant girl, Anna ar Marac. It is very much a novel of two halves. The first part was set in Brittany with a lot of detail about the lives of the Breton peasants, including their revolt against their French rulers imposing harsh measures like the hated gabelle, or salt tax; despite being well researched and with some moving scenes, I found this part tough going and considered giving up on it, as for the most part there seemed little plot or sense that the rest of this 625 pager would be different, rather the author seemed to be using the book as a vehicle for her interest in Breton peasant culture of the period. But I'm glad I persevered. The second half which I read in a third of the time it took me to get through the first was set in Paris at the time of the alleged poisonings supposedly carried out by King Louis XIV's mistress Madame De Montespan. Anna here is Anne De St Nolf, forced to play a role as cousin to a French Huguenot noble, whose life and adventures would easily merit a novel of their own. This half is full of romance, intrigue, horror and adventure and had the feel of Victor Hugo about it. This brilliant latter part raises the novel to 4.5/5.… (altro)

In this book, Betty is looking back at her marriage to Mitch Lanier who was a World War II vet who was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the war as a result of his wartime experience. We get a look at how mental illness was treated back in the fifties and sixties and how their families coped with the illness. Mitch had grown up in a Catholic orphanage abandoned by his own mentally ill mother though the genetic cause of mental illness wasn’t known at that time. They have two children who react to their father’s mental illness in different ways, Torie rebels and is ashamed of her father’s illness, wanted her dad to be normal. She protests the Vietnam War in the sixties while her brother Michael joins the military and becomes a combat infantry lieutenant in Vietnam. Suprisingly, neither sibling blames World War II for their father’s illness. Because of Mitch’s illness and his inability to work Betty takes a job outside the home which was unusual in that time period where wives were expected to stay home and take care of their family. Her own mother doesn’t support her in her decision to work even though she is supporting her family when her husband is unable to do so though he does receive disability payments later on. Betty finds that work is a way for her to escape from her life with Mitch.… (altro)