High Cotton Country - Leta McCurry's Memorable Debut Novel! Part 2...

You're right...I've never had a two-part review before... But the next part won't give away much of the story, and Leta really took her readers back in time with some old-time music...  I wanted to share a little more--I thoroughly enjoyed remembering and singing along...Hope you do too! Enjoy!


With no place to go, Cazzie stopped at a small motel and asked if she could do work to trade for a room...Once again a woman took this lonely girl under her wing and hired her.  It was while a maid that she met a group of traveling musicians, led by Johnny Gold... who quickly saw that she was sad and depressed... They soon started to play songs just for her...

Because Cazzie reminded him of his little sister who had died, he became protective.  Soon she shared her story with Johnny and he in turn shared the story of his little sister... and when they were heading to Texas, invited her to go along--she was going to find the father of her baby if possible and at least tell him she was pregnant... but didn't know what she'd seen as they slowly drove past a horrible car accident...

The only thing was that she'd be traveling as they did gigs along the way! And then one of the band members started coming in to stay with her while the rest of the band partied with their fans...

When he talked to her, offering to marry her to give her baby a name, she decided to do it...only to be later told by Johnny that he'd wished she hadn't...

Cazzie learned from Johnny “I guess Loy’s what my daddy would call shiftless.” And Johnny was right...

But he didn't leave her until she had three children and started to nag about being able to feed them...

You know, you wonder how  women can get themselves into the messes they do. One thing Cazzie had learned from Granny that was wrong, was that a woman's life was to be married so that she could have babies and raise the family... No wonder Cazzie quickly learned that men were not always willing to take that role as the "breadwinner..." 

Cazzie was intelligent, willing to work hard, and would not accept anything less than being able to take care of her kids. There was no way that she would ever follow in her mother's walk into the river!

McCurry's story may start in the past when there was little that a woman could do alone, with children. But she sets the story at a time when the young girl who had been left by her father at just six, and then bullied and abused in school because she was poor, only to discover that when she was older and became an attractive teenager, that her first boyfriend only wanted her for one thing...and hadn't been concerned about any unwanted results... 

But it moves into the recent past with startling action!

Cazzie Randle grabbed my heart and held on throughout the book... McCurry's story rings so true that we are worried and concerned and cheering her on with each step she takes to rebuild her life after being deserted over and over.

Leta tells her story so well that when changes start occurring, not only do we begin to cheer...but you may find yourself crying in happiness at some of the things that builds toward a totally unexpected, climatic ending... 

Holding both her hands, He sang La Paloma to her...

Fly little bird, go winging, 

and please lead her home safely to me. 

Cucurucucu… my love, love

~~~

Yes, you're right. This is a personal favorite... Highly recommended, and you're going to find I'm right!


GABixlerReviews

Tale-spinner. Revealer of secrets. A dog’s best friend. Cornbread and fried okra country girl.
Lives in Southern Oregon and enjoys writing, reading, the open road on a Stallion motorcycle (trike–as a passenger), good food, travel, genealogy, and a large, fun-loving family. Favorite destinations: Ireland and Singapore. Author of “High Cotton Country” and “A Shadow Life” and presently writing her third novel, “Dancing to the Silence.”

Leta says she loves the fascination of new characters and the fun of getting acquainted with them and seeing what they will do as the story develops. 

Big Blue and More Stories Presented by Wonderful Storyteller, Edmund Hickey!

Legend tells of a big blue horse that came to save us, to help us be free from harm... They called him Big Blue... He was no ordinary horse, having special powers that no other horse had ever been given... Do you want to hear the story?

Let me start my story by telling you my name is Big Blue, a name given to me by a small Hu-man boy (Edmund). 
I was born and raised across an ocean of water. I lived in a world of forest, where cold and snow was such a big part of my earliest memories. It was such a shock being born with four legs and being able to understand two-legged creatures. 
I grew up fast, understanding that I was quite different than other four-legged animals. I could mimic almost anything making sounds including two-legged creatures. Both my mother and father were silent in most of my early memories. I remember going to the village and learning what it was like to be a Hu-man. I even went beside open windows in warmer times to hear what, why, and how Hu-mans talked...
One day while carrying a small wagon of supplies with my father already working on the steep side of the mountain, we stopped. Looking at my father hauling logs down towards the road there was a loud roar and above my father, logs came crashing down on top of him. I started to panic and took off toward him. I didn’t get far before two Hu-mans pulled my reins and I came to a stop, but not before dragging them and the wagon close to my father. I was seven months old in Hu-man’s years when I began to understand the emotion called sadness...
Until my father died, I had no idea what he or anything else really meant to me. When I was two months old, I was sensing something very different about myself. Only when a boy of 17 Hu-man years and a girl of 14 came into the stable, talking did I realize I could understand them. They put a harness on me and attached a small wagon behind me, and I took them to a place called school. It was on those trips that my understanding of Hu-mans started. By overhearing what the boy and girl learned each day, I began to understand where my place in this world would be.

~~~

Big Blue

By Edmund Hickey

Edmund Hickey shares with readers that he never intended to write books... He was merely telling stories to his children as they grew up... What a wonderful thing happened for his readers' benefit. His children enjoyed them so much that they convinced him to share them! How cool is that?!!

Now everybody knows that I love cats, but, especially since I've moved into a log cabin, I've grown closer to our wild animals...raccoon, 'possum, deer are regular visitors onto my thirteen acre land... But Hickey put his imagination to work when he told his children about animals. Big Blue is the first story he shares. Two others follow but there is always an underlying theme that these special animals have the skills to understand human talk and they have a desire to help keep them from harm. And...each of these animals have an internal feeling that something is pulling them toward a specific place...

It didn't take Big Blue long to see how some men would treat other humans and animals. In the ship bringing him to America, his mother and many men and animals who died were just pushed off into the ocean...Blue felt like just doing the same to those men, but he knew that if he did, he would become just like those people!

When they landed, they were immediately taken to a market where everybody on the ship would be sold. Here the exciting part starts as Blue moves close to and listens to a family talking about buying a horse...and the children see in his eyes that he understands them!

The family all turned to me and stared, not talking, just looking at me as I moved closer to them. My first feeling seeing this Hu-man family was my desperate need to feel a part of this family. I felt so lonely not having anything good in my life, and with both my father and then my mother gone, I really felt so alone. 
As night was approaching, I moved toward some Hu-mans talking and already I knew that I was being sold to a Hu-man that was leading a wagon train west. I stepped back with great disappointment in not being with that family. Near dark, I could see the boy and girl across the way looking at me.

I trotted over to them and got close and bent down and just stared. The boy turned toward his sister and said to her: “I told you so.”
Both came closer and the girl spoke out saying: “You can understand us?” 
Slowly, I moved my head up and down which meant “yes” to Hu-mans. Here was my chance to talk to Hu-mans, something I had not done before. I knew part of my loneliness was never having a chance to talk. The boy’s name was Tyger and the girl was named Bird. The boy looked at his sister and I could tell he did not believe it was possible that a horse could understand as much as I seemed to. I said my first words and in doing so, I felt a lightness in my body. I trusted them with my life and continued talking...

~~~

And then Big Blue's great adventure began! Would he settle down with the family he had first met and become a member of their family just like a horse named Ed once did? Oh no! The story is set in the old west, so plan on spending time reading about when the white people were coming west and taking land to homestead... and capturing or killing animals that they found abundant...You'll even meet the queen of the wild horses for whom Big Blue feels a special relationship! I'd love to tell you more about this special horse, but now I want to introduce you to the next special animal...

It seemed like a long time ago when

 I was just a pup when I last sat

 among  Indians. The eldest of the

 tribe  came close to look at me,

 not saying

 anything, just looking. He moved to

 the center and spoke to his people, 

telling them,

 “The Spirits have brought 

us a wolf. A wolf who is very special, 

who has no boundaries in helping

Indians and Blue Coats."

~~~

I sit here in the mountain pass watching Indians hunt, which I have done all of my young life. Looking back, I know that I am quite different than any wolf I have ever known. Thinking back, it is still very hard to think about my birth I was born the largest of the litter, which turned out to be the way I survived. My sight, my hearing and how well I could smell were quite different than any other wolf. I was born with a soul according to the Indians and explorers. As a very young pup, I was always fighting for my life. Living in a pack, I had nobody defending me. Because of my unique scent and strange behavior, I was quickly cast out...

Wolf had spent some time with an Indian tribe when he was younger but had set off on his own, feeling a need to travel to where he was being pulled...The first white man he met was when he came upon a great battle where the Blue Coats and Indians had fought. It was horrible to see and he realized how much he would need to fear and be careful around humans...

He noticed, though, that one man was still alive and he pulled him back into a safer place. Almost immediately the man, who was a doctor, realized that Wolf seem to understand him. The man knew he needed help or he would die and asked Wolf if he could find him water. Wolf went back to the battle scene and pulled two canteens from the horses and returned! Wolf learned much from the doctor, including how he could care for himself using his hands to mend his body...

The third story was both fun and exciting as we meet Light and Shadow. Light looked like a regular rabbit we've all seen but he was paranormal! He had visions of things which were going to happen! While Shadow was huge and could even climb a tree to escape his hunters! It was Shadow who figured out a plan to keep them out of danger! They hopped on a wagon heading West! The wagon had been in a train but a wheel had broken and had to be repaired, so the family were alone for a night and would leave early in the morning to catch up with the train. That was when Light and Shadow would get into the wagon and hide...Of course, there was a young girl who had realized Light was special and then was introduced to Shadow! Her parents at first thought they were ordinary pets...

“Shadow, you’re right, something in my rabbit-human soul has been added. I needed that emotion humans call happiness. I could see why humans like it so much. Makes you feel good inside. Something I had not felt good about in a long time. Okay, Shadow, you’re going to be the smart one and of course I will be the cleverest of all the rabbits in the world. So, what’s the plan?” 

I told Light how we were going to hitch a ride with the wagon that had broken down. This was the first step of being able to travel like humans, which did not give us time to do much of anything because we had to move fast before the sun rose or the wagon would leave without us.

~~~

I don't know about you but I have come to expect more errors in ebooks than in print books and there are many small ones in Big Blue so be warned. However, the stories are extraordinary and totally compelling...I am quite ready to move on to the next book, hoping that the special animals will one day meet and go on to work together for a series! How about it StoryTeller Hickey? 

These stories were first told to young children, so I'm guessing that those at six and above would enjoy them, with parents reading, but young children readers will certainly find the book quite enjoyable... And, yes, I was just as enamored as a child--don't mind admitting it! Anybody who enjoys historical novels will find this a refreshing, unique perspective of that time in American history...

GABixlerReviews

Edmund Hickey does not see himself as an author but rather as a story teller in the ancient tradition of story tellers of the past who handed down their tales by word of mouth, orally.

Julie Bettendorf Presents Fascinating Historical Novel, Luxor: Book of Past Lives...

1324 B.C.
The large white ibis floated languidly on the smooth surface of the Nile, its feathers, silhouetted brilliantly by the morning sun. The bird stabbed his long, slender beak down underneath his wing, to scratch an early morning irritation.
A dusky brow ox walked down to the water's edge, his ears flipping valiantly at the flies already beginning to gather for their daily feast on his blood...
It was very early morning, and yet it seemed no one was sleeping. All life along the Nile was in an eternal race to start the day before being beaten down by the merciless sun.
Karnak Temple, the Ipet Isut, that most esteemed of places stood out from the simple scene, its many decorated columns standing as silent sentinels over the people walking underneath them. It is the largest religious house known in the world, upon which the mount of creation began.

...It is the second month of the great Nile flood, Akhet, the time of the inundation. Waset is preparing for the Beautiful Festival of the Opet, and the romantic scent of the lotus blossoms float in gentle currents of warm air. The sound of a woman's laughter punctuates the silence as she drops her basket of pomegranate fruit.
Ipet Isue is full of workmen busily preparing for the sacred procession from Ipet Isue to the Sanctuary of the Southern Opet and back again... These ceremonial boats will hold the golden effigies of the triad of gods, Amun-Ra, the most powerful god of the sun, and his wife Mut, and their child, Khonsu...
The festival will be a symbol of the bond between Tutankhamun and the gods. So important is the Opet festival, that Tutankhamun has commanded the festival to be lengthened from eleven days to twenty-seven, in honor of his alliance with Amun-Ra...


Luxor: Book of Past Lives

By Julie Bettendorf

Julie Bettendorf has taken her readers traveling before--to Egypt and to France with Anthony Ant! If you haven't checked out her children's books, click over to my reviews before you leave...

This time, however, the author who is a world traveler with a background in history and a degree in archaeology, has written an adult story of ancient history, based upon the the Lives of those who lived in Egypt during two time periods--first in 1324 BC and then in 1874 AD. Bettendorf has chosen to write about the everyday ancient man, but in this story, they are all involved in the fascinating business of...death... Not how they died...but how they prepared their dead for the afterlife... or later destroyed their tombs...

There was no doubt in the minds of ancient Egyptians that there was life after death. The entire process of preparing for death, especially for the pharaohs, who were considered almost gods with a connection to the gods that they worshiped, Amun-Ra, being the most powerful god of the sun. There was no real discrimination regarding the process itself--only the location and the after-life preparations for specific individuals, mostly based upon wealth of that individual.

Nebamun held the pages of bound papyrus,
known as the Book of Coming Forth by Day
protectively in his hands. It was the book given
to him by his uncle, and passed down from his
family of priests, all the back back to when it
first came in to being. As he opened the
ancient pages, the sweet smell of lutus wafted
into the embalming tent.
"Nastra, thou and thy daughter, Amunet shall
reap the eternal harvest from the fields of
Iaru, and from the fields of paradise that shall
be nourished forever."
~~~

There are two main male characters for each of the time periods. The irony of it is that the two living in 1324 are priests who prepared the dead...

While the two in 1874 are grave robbers, desecrating the bodies and stealing anything of value that were placed with the bodies of the deceased...

Such a tragedy...

"Whom shall they be called?" the high priest asked, pointing to the lifeless woman and small girl lying on the embalming table. The high priest, Nebamun, rubbed his bald head with lotue oil, in preparation for the mummification rites.
He was a tall, striking man with large black eyes, black as the underworld, made ever larger and blacker by a masterful application of black mesdemet powder eyeliner. His solid chin made him look fierce, but there was softness about his smily which revealed his true nature. He was a kind, just man, and he was chosen when he was a small boy to be taught the rites of Anubis.

He picked up the heavy black mask and
noted with satisfaction the beautiful gold
work on the eyes, and edges of the ears. It
seemed alive. He felt comforted by the
exquisite costume, to be worn to honor
woman and her daughter.
~~~

Today, Nebamun would become Anubis, the jackal- headed god, he who is in the place of embalming, the god of mummification and guardian of the dead. He would preside over the forty day ceremony of cleaning, embalming and drying out ot eh bodies. After the bodies were completely desiccated, they would be wrapped completely in many lengths of soft linen made of flax fibers.
In total, it was a seventy-day process, after which the dead would live life in eternity, in peace and contentment forever. It was a long proces, but over the years, Nebamun had grown accustomed to it. He rubbed his head once more with oil and dried his hands with a linen cloth...

~~~

Each of the time periods are essentially a separate adventure, except that there are parts that cross where the later group is involved in bodies that had been prepared by the priests. The book moves from time period to time period so that readers begin to see the great honor given to the dead by the Egyptians...

She reached inside and pulled out a wad of dark brown
rags, stiff with resin. "These will do just fine, the darker
the cloth, the hotter the fire," she said as she threw them
on the ground. "Do you have anything for me too, Abdul?"
she asked, looking at Abdul with distrust.
"I hate burning these, mother," Abdul said, handing her
cloth sack; "almost as much as I hate the shopkeeper
grinding the bones down to dust. These people were alive
once, like we are now."
"Don't be even more foolish than you already are, Abdul.
They are dead now. Why shouldn't we use them as we can,
to make our lives better. If we don't use them,
someone else will," Satre said.
~~~

Only to see later generations care nothing about the dead except as it may be used to make money! The town of Gourna had been built on top of many of the tombs of the past.

"Mother, see what money we have made," Karim yelled out. His voice fell flat against the walls of their small whitewashed home.

...Karim and Abdul lived in the small village of Gourna, at the foot of the Theban hills, along with their mother Satre. It was a desolate place, where people scraped by doing whatever they could to make their lives bearable. The villagers would look out across the Nile at the bustling city of Luxor and dream of a better world...

On one of your trips, I'm coming with you," Satre said suddenly.

"What are you talking about, where?" Karim asked.

"When you go into the tombs, I want to come with you."

"Why?" Abdul asked.

"Fool. Why do you think?" Satre said...I think you two are cheating me. I want to find out just how much you bring back in a day..."

Karim and Abdul each poured a bit of the barley into their respective millstones, picked up their pestles and began to bring the full grains into fine powder. Satre and her sons grew silent once again, as they focused on their work of making bread and beer, the two main forms of sustenance to keep their family alive for another few days.

They were so focused in fact, they paid little attention to the common millstones they were using; millstones that were hewn from temple blocks cast aside long ago.

If Karim would have looked closely, he would have seen the small figure of Akhenaton, carved in elegant relief, the original colors long since destroyed, and the carving weathered by time.

There was Akhenaton, father of Tutankhamun, in all of his battle gear, holding the heads of his captives, ready to smite them with his upheld sword.

The brothers could have sen the last vestiges of Akhenaton, from his temple destroyed centuries earlier, if only they had looked...

~~~

There is much historical data supporting the stories created by Bettendorf, and, of course, we are all aware of the reality of how the tombs of those who lived in the past were treated. However, the realism of facts combined with a fictional story of main characters involved with how bodies of those in the past have been treated, makes the book worthy of any lover of historical novels, fiction or not.

Every once in awhile, the author slides in several short scenes that will stop you cold, wondering what it was that had been found... or, to listen as Anubis chastises a priest for becoming "too involved" in his work with the body preparation. All in all, this certainly brings readers a totally different perspective of the ancient times in Egypt and some truths about Tutankhamun that have recently been confirmed through autopsy...

Given the continued interest in Egyptian history and all that it entails about past pharaohs, I believe this will be a must-read for some of you. I must admit I've always been intrigued by the architectural beauty in the country, but this novel certainly brings history to each and every reader in a unique and quite satisfying manner. Highly recommended


GABixlerReviews

Julie Bettendorf is a world traveler, with a background in history and a degree in archaeology. It is her dream to make history come alive for the reader - not just the history of the famous, but the history of the forgotten as well.  When she is not traveling, she lives in Portland, Oregon...

I Missed the McGunnin...and Couldn't Find it Anywhere...

Death by Misadventure

By E. E. Smith


The beautiful cover for this book encouraged me to pick it up--to start reading. Its setting in the 40s was something that I looked forward to settling into--it was even before Mickey Spillane brought us Mike Hammer where his secretary, Velda, was seen as the important woman behind the P.I. Of course, Agatha Christie had brought forth Miss Marple much earlier, but I was happy to realize that women were breaking tradition then as well as now...

Still, it was brave for Alexis Smith to be considering learning to be a P.I. right out of high school. She had gone to school for Forensics Investigation, almost got kicked out when she was spotted in the back of class--she had got a "Bob" short cut, but hadn't thought to start wearing trousers...

When the instructor talked to her and reviewed the exam paper she had just completed, he decided to give her a chance. She now had her own agency--or at least an office, a secretary and a young male assistant. 

Or... was she already on her way to failure...

I sat down behind my desk. "I'm sorry...Mrs. Faraday.
Yes, I see that now. It's here on your card...So, tell me.
What can I do for you?"
"I want you to find my husband," she said, opening
a silver cigarette case.
I passed an ashtray over to her and took a yellow pad
out of the top drawer of my desk. Unscrewing the cap
from my fountain pen, I said, "Name?"
"Frank Faraday," she said, and when I looked up in
utter astonishment, her cold sardonic smile sent a
chill through me. You don't recognize me, do you?"
~~~

Readers, you either have to accept that this is not a mystery--that the inexperienced P.I., had no idea what she was doing, or that she was a fool, albeit, a dedicated one...

Now, on the other hand, maybe if you call it something else, like a ghost story, historical literary fiction...I don't know, just anything but a mystery... then you have a decent story, with good characters, and a perfect ending, for even a thriller!

The problem is that it is a very well written story, worthy of the author's past credentials. But there are so many issues of content that, if you're like me, you'll spend the majority of the time searching--where is that "something" that even the author talks about in the book, although I'd never heard of it before...

Where is the McGuffin? I'm not even going to touch that!

The setting is the first item--it's unrealistic. If you're just starting a business, you're not going to be able to hire staff, especially if the story itself indicates that bills are not being paid...  At the same time, the overall environmental era flows well, including getting into the political and war issues of the time. Soooo, out of the blue, in walks the dame, which is what Mike Hammer would have called her...

Actually, it turns out to be a one-time girl friend of Alexis. As I thought about the story, I realized that the potential new client would have kept track of Alexis, perhaps, so that she would know that she had now opened a business... But Alexis didn't recognize her...

Kate got up and pirouetted around
her chair to model for me. Until then
I hadn't paid much attention to what
she was wearing. Now I saw that her
Jacket, in a soft white wood, had natural
and a nipped-in waist. The wide, calf-
length skirt was navy blue, with
unpressed pleats. Everything, down to
her Penaljo shoes, looked expensive.
"You want to be well dressed. You'll
be talking to officials in London. Yes,
I suggest you start there. Scotland Yard,
or maybe even Interpol!"
~~~

And when she offers her a large check, more than really necessary, which is only referred to as Alexis' need for new clothes... Well Alexis goes right out, spends lots of money she doesn't even keep track of, and flies away, first-class... Need I go on...

Ok, here was the assignment.  Find the woman's husband. Kill him... Alexis bargains--I'll find him, but won't kill him... Really?

The only thing realistic is how London Yard treated this American girl... And fortunately for Alexis, one of the blokes fell head over hills in love with her...

And the ending was beautifully crafted... Almost so good that you want, really want, to overlook the fact that the plot and main character fail miserably...  

Alexis' father really hadn't pushed the trust concept into his daughter's mind enough...

Were women really as foolish as this back when they weren't allowed to think for themselves? Top grades hadn't helped her.
Only Scotland Yard officials knew that an American girl with a licensed gun, in a country where not even the police carried, just had to bring trouble!

My final disappointment was that I couldn't find any historical reference to the ghost in Norwich... So does that mean that Agnes  DeVere really didn't...

You know, it's always fun to find a series that you "think" you would really enjoy. Perhaps. E. E. Smith will take some time to read other mysteries of the era. Agatha Christie still holds in for many of us even after all this time. The complexity, the sleuthing, the suspense, and the thrill of hunting down a mystery could happen within this story and characters. But Ms. Alexis J. Smith of Discreet Investigations will have to take some lessons from older, experienced Miss Marble. There was no way that a P.I. could spend weeks on one case, lazing around in the Old Vicarage, keeping company with the Scotland Yard officer who was fascinated with her... only to find that the husband has indeed been living right there all along, under her nose--with her too hesitant to...face the man she searched for... LOL... A shame really, it's kinda a "nice" book to read if you don't need a plot... A little romance, a little history, a little walk down memory lane...


GABixlerReviews

Evelyn Eileen Smith resides in the San Francisco Bay area and is an award-winning playwright of more than a dozen plays. The debut novel, Boardinghouse Stew, was inspired by her own real-life experiences working in a boardhouse in Satramento during World War II. Times Like These is based on more real-life adventures through the end of WW II, six years of peace, and the beginning of the Korean War. In her last work, In Love and War, Evelyn shares her experiences as a young bride during the Korean War and how life decisions made in haste impacted her entire life.

Fascinating Fantasy Tale Set in Malaya 1893 Provides Mesmerizing Glimpse Into Afterworld!

                  redhotbrides.com

"That night I had a curious dream. I wandered through the Lim mansion though all was still and silent. It was bright, but there was no sun, merely the whiteness that comes from a fog at midday. And like a fog, parts of the house seemed to vanish as I passed, so that the way behind was shrouded in a thin white film. Just as I had that very day, I passed through artfully planted courtyards, dim corridors, and echoing reception rooms, although this time there was no distant murmur of voices nor servants moving about. Presently, I became aware that I was not alone. Someone was following me, watching from behind a door or peering through the balustrades of the upper level. I began to hurry, turning down one passage after another as they began to resemble each other with a dreadful sameness.

"At last, I came into a courtyard with a lotus pond, very much like the one I had visited that day, although the flowers here had an artificial air, as though they had been stuck into the mud like so many sticks of incense. As I stood wondering what to do, someone sidled up beside me. Turning, I saw a strange young man. He was grandly dressed in old-fashioned formal robes that came down to his ankles. On his feet, curiously short and broad, he wore black court  shoes with pointed toes. His clothing was dyed in lurid hues, but his face was quite undistinguished, being plump with a weak chin and a smattering of acne scars. He gazed at me with a solicitious smile.

"Li Lan!" he said, "How I've longed to see you again!"

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You don't remember me, do you? It was too long ago. But I remember you. How could I forget?"he said with a flourish. "Your beautiful eyebrows, like moths. Your lips, like hibiscus petals."

"As he beamed, I was struck by a lurch of nausea. "I want to go home..."

"Li Lan, my dear. Don't you know who I am? I'm Lim Tian Ching!" he said. "The heir of the Lim family. I've come to court you."

The queasiness continued to build until I felt light-headed. "Aren't you dead?"...

~~~

The Ghost Bride

By Yangsze Choo

This is a ghost story...unlike any you may have read before! It is delightfully detailed in historical richness of stories that have been past down through generations! I had heard of the ghost bride--one who was asked to marry a man who had died, with a rooster sitting in for the groom. But this author has taken it further and created her own place, the Plains of the Dead, that moves readers far beyond former tales and allows us to envision that place "in between..."

"Li Lan, this is my cousin Tian Bai."
"We did not shake hands as I had heard the British
do, but under his gaze, I felt a flicker run through
my veins.
"In addition to cleaning the clocks, I also play a
little music," he said.
"Yan Hong looked at him with amusement. What
are you talking about? Turning to me, she said,
"Li Lan is the daughter of the Pan family.
"I tried to swallow my kuih, but it was sticky and
clung to my throat.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm fine," I said with as much dignity as I could
muster.
"There was a little crease at the corners of his eyes,
exactly like the fold in a freshly laundered sheet.
"I had a hard time finding out who you were," he said.
"You just ran off the other day..."
"I hardly dared to look him in the eye, yet I was drawn
to his gaze like a moth to flame. It wouldn't do to appear
silly and empty-headed. A man who had traveled
across the ocean must surely be bored by small talk.
He gave no sign of it, though, asking me what books
I had read and why I knew about the sea charts..."
[Tian Bai is the man who whom Li Lan was promised]
~~~

I was enthralled as soon as I saw the cover and read the first sentence on the back cover: "One evening, my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride..."

Her simple question then blew me away! "Who asked."

Now, really, would you be able to calmly listen to this proposal? First, of course, you must realize that marriages were arranged at that time, so it would have been normal for her father to propose a liaison...

But to a dead man?

What had happened was that the heir on the family had died, and the Lim Family wanted to honor him...now that's the story used...but what was actually happening, was that the son was haunting his parents, as well as already sneaking into the dreams of Li Lan, wanting to ensure she was given to him as his bride.

Li Lan was from a poor family, but the fathers had been friends. Now, though, since his own wife had died, Li Lan's father had withdrawn from the world, spending much time in an opium-induced world...and bills building up. The Lim family had been loaning money, as Li Lan was promised to another in the family. Now, though, he was the heir. The family wanted to make a better, more advantageous match...

Lim Tian Ching kept coming into Li Lan's dreams until one visit was so bad that she became ill. Her dreams became weird, she visited places she'd never been and then, finally, her soul left her body! Fortunately she appeared to be unconscious, so she was cared for and kept nourished... otherwise, she might have died!

Instead, she began a wondrous journey where she was able to see all of the ghosts that appeared each night--hungry ghosts, who had nobody to pray for them and provide them food...

Lim house in GulangYu (Photo credit: Terence: family & friends)

"Since my illness, Amah had taken to sleeping in my room on a think pallet on the floor. I protested at this, as she was old and the wooden planks were hard, but she insisted. In truth, it made me feel much better. Every night Amah securely fastened the wooden shutters, no matter how hot and still the air was...
"I suspected that Amah kept the windows shut for other reasons. When I was a little girl, I had heard many tales of terror not only from Amah but also from her friends. Malaya was full of the ghosts...
"Amah, where do people go where they die?"
..."When someone dies, the spirit leaves the body and after the hundred days of mourning are over, passes through the ten Courts of Hell. The First Court is the arrival gate. There the souls are sorted. The good ones go straight to rebirth, or if they are really saintly they escape the Wheel of Life and go to paradise... if you were moderately good, you might be able to skip some of the Courts of Hell by crossing the gold or silver bridges. But if you committed some sin, you have to pass through the courts. The Second Court has the judges where they read out your good and bad deeds. Depending on that, you might be sent on to different punishments."


As you can probably tell, if you were here right now, I would continue to tell you about all of the strange wonders that you will learn about in the afterworld. But, then, you would never be able to really understand or imagine what is to come in this outstanding novel. Yangsze Choo Debut is truly a literary folk tale that takes us far back before things were changed by politics. In fact, she provides Notes at the back which merges past with the present, including such things as what the character names means! 

But what is soooo exciting is that there is a surprise ending that I simply loved! And how I wish I could talk about it...But I can't...So, if my words tempt you or if you love historical and exotic fiction, this is a must-read! Don't miss this one!


GABixlerReviews

Yangsze Choo is a fourth generation Malaysian of Chinese descent. Due to a childhood spent in various countries such as Germany and Japan, she can eavesdrop (badly) in several languages. After graduating from Harvard University, she worked as a management consultant before writing her first novel. THE GHOST BRIDE, set in colonial Malaya and the elaborate Chinese world of the afterlife, is about a peculiar historic custom called a spirit marriage.Yangsze lives in California with her husband, two children, and a potential rabbit. She loves to eat and read, and often does both at the same time. You can follow her at www.yschoo.com or on Twitter: @yangszechoo.

Bette Crosby Brings Early 1900s To Life in The Twelfth Child!

Abigail Lannigan   Born – August, 1912  
 I was barely thirteen years old when Mama
 died and left me and Will in the care of Papa,
 a man who’d think nothing of shoving a dose
 of castor oil down my throat
 just so he could watch my face turn inside out
. “It’s good for what ails you,” he’d say;
yet, I noticed he never gave Will the same big dose.
Papa didn’t say it in precise words,
but he made it clear enough he wouldn’t give two hoots
 if all the girl babies in Chestnut Ridge, Virginia,
were in the graveyard along with Mama.
Of course with him being a staunch Methodist,
I don’t believe Papa was capable of taking
 a butcher knife and slicing off heads or anything;
but he surely knew how to destroy people from the inside—
a sliver of spirit, a piece of pride, a chunk of heart—
until one day there’s nothing left but a walking around shell
 to do the cooking and laundry.
                It’s a roundabout story,
but Papa’s blind-sightedness
 is the very reason Destiny Fairchild
may end up in the Women’s Correctional Facility—
which is a fancy way of saying penitentiary.
Everybody’s life could have been a whole lot different
if Mama hadn’t died
 before she got a chance to set things right.

The Twelfth Child


By Bette E. Crosby



When a woman had struggled to live like Abigail Lannigan did, you know she is going to live a long, long life. In fact, when Abigail died, she just kept on, talking and moving around as when she was alive...

Can't say I blame her, because when she died, she had left some unfinished business and wanted to try to work everything out, if possible...

When her Ma died, Abigail was immediately responsible for all of her chores. She knew that if she really ever wanted to do anything with her life, like be a teacher like her role model, then she would have to act on her own to get away.

But when she did get an offer to help from that teacher, to go and live as a companion with a poet, she knew that it would be the only time--if she didn't take it now, she'd never get away...

Besides, her Pa let it be known that he expected her to be married at 16; he'd already picked out the boy and had invited he and his Pa to come calling...

Abigail left and was soon living with Miss Ida Jean Meredith. Fortunately she had been a reader all of her life and had always made good grades so that she was quickly able to help Miss Ida Jean as she was working on her next poetry book. But, unfortunately, she became ill and died, forcing Abigail to give up her only home. She knew she couldn't go back to the farm!

Readers will see how she struggled through and lived, until when she was older and needed help, a young woman
moved across the street from her and they became friends.

Very good friends. In some ways like mother and daughter,
in other ways like sisters, even with the difference in age.
She was so kind and concerned, that Abigail quickly wanted to help her as well, so she gave her old furniture that she was no longer using and odds and ends from her home to brighten up her new home. Abigail knew she didn't make much money, so she'd help her financially as well. Then as she got physically unable to drive and care for her own needs, such as taking care of bills, Destiny Fairchild took her to shop, handle her banking and later Abigail placed her name as co-signer on her bank account...

Now Abigail had quite a bit of money, having it left to her by her brother. It was at that time that a cousin started to visit, seeking recognition and a possible inheritance and when Abigail died...

He called the cops on Destiny!

It is always interesting to visit historical times and realize how glad we are not to have lived during those times! Right? This is a heartwarming story of how love can enter the lives of those who are alone, just by being kind to another. Crosby has much talent in creating her characters and readers quickly become involved in their lives as well. Sit back and relax and make a trip to the early 1900s. Enjoy!


GABixlerReviews

Award-winning author Bette Lee Crosby is originally from New Jersey, but now makes her home in Southern Florida where she lives with her husband Richard and a feisty Bichon Frise named Katie. A highly entertaining public speaker, Bette makes frequent appearances to support the various charities of women’s groups, and schedule permitting, she will join book talks and book club discussion groups.

In 1997 Bette abandoned the fast-paced world of advertising and embarked on a career as a novelist. Her books, frequently written in a Southern voice, cover a wide spectrum of locales and personalities as they tell tales of courageous women overcoming life’s obstacles. Check out her web site!