Just a reminder that I am having surgery tomorrow, so I won’t be around much from about lunch time tomorrow until next week, Wednesday. Apologies in advance for any delays in responding to comments.

The Mystery of Folly’s End by Jaye Marie

What Amazon Says

Two estranged sisters, a dead husband, a mysterious hotel and a ghost?

Charlie’s sister Angela is not her favourite person after deliberately stealing the love of her life.

Years later, Angel’s husband dies mysteriously, leaving her with two children and no money. She begs her big sister to help her.

Can Charlie find it in her heart to forgive her sister, or will old feelings destroy any chance of a reunion?

Can they work together to solve their problems, or would that be asking for the impossible?

My review

I don’t often read murder mystery books of this nature so this was an unusual book choice for me. The story was engaging and there were a few great twists although I did have a good idea of how the murder element was going to pan out early in the story. This is not uncommon for me and one of the reasons I don’t read many books in this genre. In this case, it did not hinder my enjoyment of the book as the characters were interesting albeit not being my version of nice in any way.

I thought the main character, Charlie, was a kind person but her relationship with her sister, Angie, a horrible and entirely selfish woman, was astonishing to me. She was a bit of a doormat despite being a fairly successful woman in her chosen career in interior design. This aspect of Charlie’s personality was evident throughout the story in her relationships with her boss, Maggie, lover, Peter Channing, and finally with Stuart Rankin, Angie’s apparent nemesis and business partner to Tom, Angie’s missing husband and Charlie’s ex-boyfriend. The fact that Angie’s missing husband was also Charlie’s ex-boyfriend and the reason the two sisters were no longer close is very indicative of Angie’s grasping and me centric personality.

Although I found Charlie’s behaviour mystifying, I did understand it because I have seen similar behaviour by many women I know. Many women seem desperate to please at any cost to themselves. I think this is one of the reasons I enjoyed this story despite my dislike of most of the characters including Maggie, Angie, Stuart, and Peter. Angie’s two daughters were sweet girls and quite neglected by their mother, so they were a nice intervention into the storyline. Charlie’s psychology was quite fascinating, and I enjoyed trying to unravel what made her tick and why she put up with the abuse she suffered from practically every person in her life. In the end, I believe it was a desire to be accepted and loved that made Charlie the way she was. That is my opinion and I’d be interested in other readers opinions in this regard.

On the whole, an interesting book that is well worth the time investment.

Purchase The Mystery of Folly’s End by Jaye Marie: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D9P396BL

Winter Journeys: A Novel of Music and Memory by Audrey Driscoll

What Amazon says

Winter Journeys is a story about the power of music and imagination.

In 1827, a year before his death, composer Franz Schubert wrote twenty-four songs that trace the physical and mental trajectory of a man who has parted from the young woman for whom he had romantic feelings. Wandering the winter countryside, he passes from sorrow to disillusion, anger, confusion, irony, loneliness, and a final surrender—to madness?

In 1987, Ilona Miller’s final year at university, she is enchanted by a recorded voice singing those twenty-four songs. A misfit who has struggled to please and succeed, she becomes an explorer of uncontrolled emotions. When she meets a man who seems to embody the marvellous voice, she acts out her romantic imaginings, but her giddy joy soon spirals into chaos.

In 2007, Ilona Miller is downsized from her office job. Instead of adjusting her attitude, upgrading her skills, and sending out resumes, she retreats into grief and paranoid imaginings. Her walks along streets and seashores awaken a long-suppressed alter ego and summon a parade of lost memories. Did the choices she made twenty years ago harm someone besides herself? Who is the man whose harmonica she hears at night? And where is she going now?

My review

This is an extraordinary book of literary fiction that reminded me in many ways of various works by the Bronte sisters. The writing is beautiful and vivid, and the main character, for me, was compelling in a strange and almost dark way. It was clear from the start of the story that Llona Miller was a woman with severe mental health issues. She obviously had difficulties in relating to other people and suffered from a persecution complex where she believed her colleagues were conspiring against her.

The story starts with Llona rushing to get to the bank during her lunch break. She spots a homeless man playing a harmonica which makes no tangible sound. She believes this man to be someone she knew from her collage days. She dwells on the man, Davy Dawson, in a rather obsessive way, but the reader gets the impression this would have passed had Llona not had the misfortune to be retrenched during a downsizing exercise. She disbelieves management’s commentary that her retrenchment is due to her being the most recent introduction to the team and becomes more and more certain that, somehow, her past has infiltrated her work environment, and people can sense she is different. Llona starts her slow descent into a complete withdrawal from functional society. Her obsession with finding Davy Dawson grows and she starts searching for him. As she walks about in the depths of the Canadian winter, trying to find him, she relives the story of her life and how she became immersed in the music of Franz Schubert to a point where writing an essay about his life takes over all her time and focus.

This is a sad story of a woman’s mental degeneration and the related collapse of her life. Llona’s life story is one of tragedy and loss. It was never clear to me as to whether the homeless man she thought was Davy Dawson actually existed or whether he was a figment of her imagination.

This is a fascinating story which provides a lot of insight into mental illness and its effect not only on the sufferer but also on the people around them. A most worthy read for people who enjoy literary fiction and character driven books.

A few examples of the compelling writing:
“That spring I wore sunglasses whenever I went outside. The light was intolerable, harsh, uncouth, needle-like, whether hazing a dusty window or jabbing laser-like into my eyes from chrome bumpers and trim on cars, or glassware and cutlery on a table.”

“It’s clear to her that Nicole is out of her depth. Her face is even redder, and her eyes dart from computer screen to window to her own fingers; she looks anywhere but at Ilona, who sits and gazes at her. (Ilona has done this before, but now she is doing it differently.”

Purchase Winter Journeys: A Novel of Music and Memory by Audrey Driscoll from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DT4ZBK14