Wrap-Up of the 2022 Chunkster Reading Challenge

This year's chunkster challenge did not have any reading requirements other than books needed to have 450+ pages.  I read 15 books for the challenge:

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

Fast Girls by Elise Hooper

London by Edward Rutherfod

Never by Ken Follett

Valentine by Tom Savage

The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton

The Girl in the Painting by Renita D'Silva

Kingdom of Bones by James Rollins

The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

Kaikeyi by Vaishneva Patel

The Omega Factor by Brad Thor

Rising Tiger by Brad Thor

Salt by Mark Kurlansky

Paris by Edward Rutherford

Revenge by Tom Bowers

Favorite Book:  Kaikeyi

2nd Favorite Book:  The Good Wife of Bath

Least Favorite Book:  Salt

Paris

Engrossing! This book is unputdownable. I picked it up intending to read only a couple of pages while the Kindle recharged. The next thing I knew I was 200 pages into the book and knew that I would not read anything else until I finished it. 

Paris is a historical fiction novel by Edward Rutherford. It covers 1,000 years of history by telling the sagas of six families. The families interact with famous people from their eras in order to bring the reader some familiarity with Parisian history. I have read 2 other historical novels by Rutherford and both told their stories chronologically.  Paris skips back and forth in time but I found it is easy to follow. 

There are many, many historical details that are clearly explained. If you want to know why plaster of paris is named such, read this book. What about the building of the Eiffel Tower? Here, you will discover everything that went into its construction by following characters who were hired to work on it. While the book covers two wars, I was glad that the fighting scenes were short. I don't like war stories much. The plague and the Spanish Flu also appear as well as the world exhibitions that were held in Paris and the rise of feminism.

I LOVED this book and cannot recommend it more highly to historical fiction fans. Do not be put off by its 800 pages. Most of Rutherford's books are over 1,000 pages so Paris is a short story. 5 out of 5 stars.

Salt

I read Mark Kurlansky's Salt as a selection for the Nonfiction Reader Challenge. It is a history of the discovery, mining, sale and taxing of salt by cities and nations from 3600 BCE to the present. It is Kurlansky's 5th nonfiction book and here he explains how salt has shaped civilization from its very beginning and how its story is an important part of the history of humankind. For most of its history salt has been used as a currency. It also influenced the establishment of European trade routes as well as cities, provoked wars between cities and inspired revolutions. Civilizations in China, Greece, Egypt and Rome all discovered salt on their own at about the same time. None of them can say that they discovered salt, although all of them make this claim. In each case, salt was discovered when lake and river waters evaporated in the sun. People harvested the square crystals on the surface of the water. Almost immediately it was used to preserve fish. As a necessary commodity for sustaining life, ancient politicians knew that they could make money by taxing the sale of salt. Cities that had saltmines made money from harvesting it while others that did not have this resource made money by regulating it. It is interesting that salt is a rock, the only rock that humans eat.

The book reads like a textbook, which in my mind is a negative. Almost every other sentence contains a new fact and made the book an overwhelming one to read. Kurlansky has found a salt connection nearly everywhere, especially in the modern era. The Erie Canal was built for the sake of salt, which needed to be moved from the upstate Onondaga region to New York City. The West Indian slave trade was primarily underwritten by sales of salt, even more than by molasses and rum. So how did salt encourage revolution?  It was the salt tax in India that inspired Mohandas K. Gandhi to start a rebellion that led to independence.  The American Revolutionary War was partly incited by salt shortages.

While it is pretty cool to amass these interesting facts about salt, the book itself is a hard and sometimes dull book to read. I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars. 

Revenge

I rarely read gossipy books about celebrities. A dislike for the Harkles, however, made me want to buy this book. Author Tom Bower shows in great detail the reasons for the war between Prince Harry, Meghan and the crown. This is the first book of Bower's that I have read. I was not even familiar with his name before and was surprised to discover that he has 25 titles to his credit. His typical subjects are the British royal family along with British celebrities and politicians. 

The publisher's summary:

The British Royal Family believed that the dizzy success of the Sussex wedding, watched and celebrated around the world, was the beginning of a new era for the Windsors. Yet, within one tumultuous year, the dream became a nightmare. In the aftermath of the infamous Megxit split and the Oprah Winfrey interview, the Royal Family's fate seems persistently threatened. 

The public remains puzzled. Meghan's success has alternatively won praise, bewildered and outraged. Confused by the Sussexes' slick publicity, few understand the real Meghan Markle. What lies ahead for Meghan? And what has happened to the family she married into? Can the Windsors restore their reputation? 

With extensive research, expert sourcing and interviews from insiders who have never spoken before, Tom Bower, Britain's leading investigative biographer, unpicks the tangled web of courtroom drama, courtier politics and thwarted childhood dreams to uncover an astonishing story of love, betrayal, secrets and revenge.

It was apparent from the first pages that Meghan Markle's current behavior is not anything new. She behaved the same way both before meeting Harry as well as during their courtship. I was surprised to read that her behavior is not due to any racism that she experienced or the royal family disliking her, which is the storyline that she has been putting out in the media. I was also surprised that Harry has always been just like her. They are the perfect couple. 

Bowers presents a ton of information about both their backgrounds and has shown many examples of their erratic behavior throughout their lives. In fact, the last 100 pages of the book are a list of references from where he obtained his information. Another surprise, yes a spoiler, is that Meghan's father Thomas Markle had quite a few conversations with Harry before the wedding. The Harkle's narrative is that Harry never met nor spoke with Thomas but that is not true. Bowers presents every text, email and phone call between them. Also, Harry was quite cruel to Thomas after his heart attack. The level of cruelty was yet another surprise. 

As I said above, Harry and Meghan are two of a kind. When destructive people get together it never ends well. I hate to see how their marriage turns out.

5 out of 5 stars.

Rising Tiger

Rising Tiger is Brad Thor's 23rd Scot Harvath spy thriller. All of the books in the series to date have been fabulous. However, with Rising Tiger Brad Thor is beginning to slip.

The publisher's summary:

An unprecedented, potentially nation-ending threat has materialized on the world stage. Fearful of the global consequences of engaging this enemy, administration after administration has passed the buck. The clock, however, has run out and doing nothing is no longer an option. It is time to unleash Scot Harvath.

As America’s top spy, Harvath has the unparalleled skills and experience necessary to handle any situation, but this assignment feels different.

Thrust into a completely unfamiliar culture, with few he can trust, the danger begins mounting the moment he arrives. Amidst multiple competing forces and a host of deadly agendas, it becomes nearly impossible to tell predator from prey.

With democracy itself hanging in the balance, Harvath will risk everything to untangle the explosive plot and bring every bad actor to justice.

As I mentioned above, the book was no where near as good as the others in the series. In fact, it was rather dull. It's hard to believe that Thor wrote it as the writing formula is quite different from his earlier books. Harvath did not approach his investigation in his usual manner. In addition, there is no suspense. When Harvath meets with his Indian counterpart they have boring conversations about food and '70s music. There is an alternating plot involving Asha Patel of India's Defense Department Special Ops Division and this plot was also dull. I had to skip pages in order to stay awake so I have to ask again:  Did Brad Thor write this book?  

This was a disappointing read but I have noticed that when a series gets to be as long as this one, the author usually has 1 or 2 setbacks. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Omega Factor

The Omega Factor is Steve Berry's 21st novel. He writes treasure hunt mysteries featuring Cotton Malone and Casseiopeia Vitt. However, Omega is a standalone novel. Another installment of the Cotton Malone series will be published in 2023.

The story centers around UNESCO investigator Nicholas Lee, who works for the United Nations’ Cultural Liaison and Investigative Office (CLIO). Nick’s job is to protect the world’s cultural artifacts—anything and everything from countless lesser-known objects to national treasures. When Nick travels to Belgium for a visit with a woman from his past, he unwittingly stumbles on the trail of a legendary panel from the Ghent Altarpiece, stolen in 1934 under cover of night and never seen since. Soon Nick is plunged into a bitter conflict, one that has been simmering for nearly two thousand years. On one side is the Maidens of Saint-Michael, the Vulture, a secret order of nuns and the guardians of a great truth. Pitted against them is the Vatican, which has wanted for centuries to both find and possess what the nuns guard. Because of Nick the maidens have finally been exposed, their secret placed in dire jeopardy—a vulnerability that the Vatican swiftly moves to exploit utilizing an ambitious cardinal and a corrupt archbishop, both with agendas of their own. Nick Lee must confront a modern-day religious crusade intent on eliminating a shocking truth from humanity’s past. Success or failure—life and death—all turn on the Omega Factor.

I liked this new character Nick Lee. His job for UNESCO gives him many opportunities to be involved in interesting investigations. While I miss the Cotton Malone character, I hope Nick returns in another book. I also liked these gun-toting nuns. Whoever said nuns have to be meek and mild? The nuns in this particular order must train to be able to defend their secret places. Their training reminded me of the type that Cotton Malone had. 

The Pyrenees Mountain setting was new to me. The mountains divide the France/Spain border and there was some action in the plot from both sides. Also, I enjoyed reading about the religious history of the Cathars as well as Marian theology. I had no knowledge about either before reading the book. The Cathars had some beliefs that I would not describe as Christian yet the church has romanticized them. As the author said in his Writer's Note, if the faithful wanted to believe in doctrine that was wrong, the church would go along in order to keep them happy.  A happy church member is a member that continues to give money. In addition, I learned alot about painter Jan van Eyck. His most famous work, the Ghent Altarpiece, is featured in this story and I think I can now talk about him with my artsy friends well enough to look smart.

The Omega Factor itself was not mentioned in the story until the last 40 pages. I can see why Berry had to wait to  bring it up but usually he gives his readers a hint early in his books as to what the main character is searching for. The plot did not suffer though. Omega is a fast read and highly entertaining.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Good Wife of Bath

The Good Wife of Bath is a modern retelling of a story in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I have never read The Canterbury Tales before so the plotline for the modern story was new to me. Taking place in the latter half of the fourteenth century, Eleanor Cornfed's life with her 5 husbands is portrayed. At the age of 12 she is caught in bed with a priest and married off a week later to a sheep farmer fifty years her senior. Fulk Bigod is well known in the community, well known for outliving 4 previous wives and for being dirty. The community loves nothing more than to tell stories about him. Eleanor is despondent but reflects on her father's past advice to make something out of nothing. With a head for business and a surprisingly kind husband, Eleanor manages to turn her first marriage into a success. She begins to rise through society to a woman of fortune who becomes a trusted friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. More marriages follow. Some of them were happy while others were not. In between each marriage, Eleanor goes on a religious pilgrimage. Through her travels she determines what mistakes she made in her marriages but always returns home to repeat those mistakes. All along, though, she pines for control over her life. 

This book was a breeze to read. I loved it and read half of its 560 pages in one sitting. I finished it in the next sitting. Eleanor is an amazing character who didn't give up on marriage until the fifth one ended. Her flaws only bring suspense to the story. I kept wondering whether Eleanor would do as she knew in her heart to do rather than succumb to her fickle nature. She should never have married again. When Fulk died, she was a well off business woman and didn't need another man. However, she thought that she needed them because society told her so. It only goes to show how few choices women had in those times. It was funny that when she arrived at her new home with Fulk, all she could see and smell was shit. It was everywhere. The house and fields were filled with it. I was surprised that she decided fairly quickly that she needed to gain her step-daughter's acceptance and began cleaning that house.  Eleanor did not have to clean anything in Noke Manor where she grew up. Her family had staff so these decisions were pretty grown up for a twelve year old.

The novel is a fun romp through Eleanor's life. Romp is the correct word here as Eleanor could never get enough sex. In fact, it was her downfall. The Good Wife of Bath is must reading for historical fiction fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi is the story of an infamous queen from the Indian epic tale the Ramayana. The author has taken the biggest villain of the epic and made her into a sympathetic character. It was just published in April 2022 and with 496 pages it is a chunky book. I bought the book at Barnes and Noble and enjoyed reading this hardcover as I held it. Holding a book seems like a blast from the past with all the ebooks around these days. 

The publisher's summary:

"I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions - much good it did me.

So begins Kaikeyi's story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on the tales of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear her.

Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.

But as the evil from her childhood stories threaten the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak - and what legacy she intends to leave behind."

I haven't read many historical novels taking place in ancient India so this was a lovely departure from my usual reads. The pacing was what I expected from a historical fiction novel, as opposed to a historical mystery. It was just right. Because it is fiction, there is more emphasis on the Kaikeyi character than action. That said, there was still a good amount of action due to the main character's life story. 

The character was easy to like. She was a woman who helped other women and strove to enter a man's world. That's always a type of character that I will be drawn to. Her resilience was encouraging and inspirational; never let anyone get you down. Her use of magic is not something that I would typically want to read about. Kaikeyi always tried to get others to do her bidding by concentrating on the Binding Plane where she thought about the threads that bound her to other people. Her use of the binding place was integrated well into the story and seemed a normal part of the plot. However, she did not want anyone to know that she used magic. That would have had a negative impact on her life.

So how do you pronounce the name?  I believe it is "ki-kay." It may be my 2022 book of the year. I have only said that once this year so it will definitely be a top ten book. 5 out of 5 stars.

Kingdom of Bones

Kingdom of Bones is the 16th Sigma Force thriller from James Rollins. The story began with a United Nations relief team in a small Congo village making an alarming discovery. An unknown virus is leveling the evolutionary playing field. Men, women, and children have been reduced to a dull, catatonic state while plants and animals have grown more cunning and predatory, evolving at an exponential pace. This phenomena is spreading from a cursed site in the jungle, known to locals as the Kingdom of Bones, and sweeping across Africa, threatening the rest of the world. What made the biosphere run amok; a natural event or did someone engineer it? Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force have kept the world safe for years. However, even these highly trained scientists do not understand what is unfolding in Africa or know how to stop it. In order to head off a global catastrophe, the Sigma Force crew must once again risk their lives to uncover the shattering secret at the heart of the African continent.

I usually love a James Rollins novel. I liked this one but I cannot say I loved it. It was highly technical concerning the biology of viruses which was way over my ability to understand. Also, the plot premise was a little too fantastical. Just because something could be possible doesn't mean that it's probable. The virus that the Sigma Force crew was investigating would mutate in the offspring of infected creatures. The DNA of the new creatures was sufficiently altered to make them more dangerous to humans but also too different from the species that they originated from. One other issue I had was why a military dog was taken along for this jungle adventure. Is it likely that a combat veteran would bring his dog on a hunt for a virus? The book just didn't seem like the traditional Sigma Force story.

3 out of 5 stars.

Island Queen

When I initially saw this novel for sale on Amazon I was not sure whether I wanted to buy it. However, I did get it and I am glad that I read it. It is the fascinating, true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free black woman who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies. At 592 pages, the book qualifies as a selection for the Chunkster Challenge.

The publisher's summary:  

Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.

Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England.

From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history.

The story began when Dorothy was five-years-old. It started out slow but picked up when Dorothy was 18. At that point I couldn't put the book down. There were a couple of unsavory sections where Dorothy or another female family member were being raped and/or referred to with racist and sexist language. The book is not for everyone but it does tell a part of history that we don't usually hear about. I was surprised at how easily and quickly Dorothy was able to save money to buy herself and several family members freedom from their slave owners. This ease seemed wrong from the history that I have been told over the years. Her ability to get away with talking back to her white owners did not feel right to me either. Perhaps she was able because she lived in the Caribbean. I am not sure. Dorothy was able to build several businesses and became one of the most wealthy women in the Caribbean. It would be interesting to find out whether this was a norm or an anomaly for black women in the Caribbean during the early 1800s. 

Dorothy pushed her daughters to marry white men. She prospered off of these relationships but perhaps her motivation was just to ensure that her children had food to eat. These white husbands had the power of manumission and this was one way for Dorothy to keep her descendants free people. The language used in the book took some getting used to. The West Indies dialect as well as the Irish words used by the white slave owners was very hard to get used to. Most of this language was used in the first half of the book. It got alot better in the second half.  With all of these issues in my mind I am still thinking to myself about my feelings about the novel. There are many questions that the Author's Note does not answer.

3 out of 5 stars.

Fast Girls

Fast Girls tells the story of the 1936 US women's olympic athletics team, a timely historical fiction novel given we have just watched the Beijing Olympics last month. The story actually begins with the 1928 women's athletics team and continues on to the 1932 team before getting to the main storyline. The athletes featured in the book are from real life. Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens and Babe Dickrickson are the best known. I was surprised that several of these women were from the Chicago south suburbs. I grew up there and loved seeing news articles from a local high school. What surprised me was that the school was integrated. 

Half of the book covers the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. The last half deals with the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Germany. Louise Stokes was black and not welcome in the Third Reich but none of the others really were either. Because these Americans were expected to win gold, their German hosts did their best to tire them with activities. Their rooms were also rather cold. Helen had a meeting with Hitler that terrified her. She wrote in her diary that he groped her in front of a group of people and wanted to see her privately. Her coach led her to safety. I was astonished that the host country's leaders would behave in this manner. However, haven't we all recently read how the Chinese government publicly excoriated American athletes of Chinese descent? The athletes were told that they should have competed for China. Nathan Chen was told by government leaders to leave China after his gold medal skate. He refused.

The novel covers many races that these ladies participated in over an eight year time span. While there is alot of political drama, Fast Girls is basically a sports story. 

5 out of 5 stars.

Never

Ken Follett is well known for his historical fiction tomes but in this new novel he has given us a political thriller that takes place in Chad, Beijing, Pyongyang, Soeul, North Africa, the Middle East and Washington DC.  It is about the beginning of WWIII and is narrated by several characters: Paulette Green is the U. S. President, Chang Kai is a Chinese spy for Homeland Security, Tamara Levit works for the CIA at the American Embassy in N'Djamena, Chad, Kiah is a Chad citizen, and Abdul also works for the CIA as he travels throughout the Middle East. Within the book's 804 pages the author aims to show us how WWIII can start without any one nation actually escalating any of its military activities.

The publisher's summary:

A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert; a stolen US Army drone; an uninhabited Japanese island; and one country's secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: all these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis. Struggling to prevent the outbreak of world warfare a young woman intelligence officer; a spy working undercover with jihadists; a brilliant Chinese spymaster; and Pauline herself, beleaguered by a populist rival for the next presidential election.  Never . . . is full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and delivers a visceral, heartpounding read that transports readers to the brink of the unimaginable. 

I expected alot from this novel given the author's reputation. However, I found that parts of the book were a little dull. It started out well and ended with a bang but the middle was excruciatingly slow. I think if Follett cut the page count by one third this would have been a fantastic read. The parts that I feel are dull have scenes that show the foreign policy of several nations in action. It reflects on their ability to act diplomatically in a crisis which is important for Follett to show whether war is escalating. However, it was boring. Certainly these subplots could have been written more skillfully.

The Chad setting was deftly handled. I could feel the effects of the high temperature even though I am currently freezing in my hometown. The poverty and starvation of the people was portrayed adroitly. Their sense of grief was captured perfectly and I felt so bad about their predicament. The choices they had for survival were dim.

The politics of the U.S. and China were displayed well. Here the reader learns what goes on behind the scenes when nations are determining what course of action to take in a given moment of time. Faulty ideas, and some correct ones too, regarding why world leaders will react in a particular way is dramatized toward the end of the story and gives the novel it's suspenseful ending. 

Follett achieved his goal of showing how war can be escalated by countries without officially escalating their military activities. That was magnificent and gives pause to readers. The boring bits were unfortunate. 3 out of 5 stars.

Valentine

Valentine was published in 1996. It is a novel of revenge and was made into a horror/slasher movie in 2001 with superstars Katherine Heigl and Denise Richards playing parts. Valentine is a tightly woven suspense story with a jaw dropping ending. I did not see this one coming and I cannot remember being this surprised by an ending before. In fact, I had to go back a few pages to confirm that the ending I read was correct. I just couldn't believe it.

The publisher's summary:

Jillian Talbot has it all: a beautiful home in New York's Greenwich Village, a string of bestselling suspense novels, and a handsome and adoring lover. She has something else too.  A silent stalker. A secret admirer who sends her pink, heart shaped messages with an unmistakable threat in blood red letters. His motives are as cryptic as the name he goes by:  Valentine. But his intentions are deadly clear. He has watched other women in the past, and he has killed them. Now he's ready to add Jillian to the list, to carry out the punishment he has chosen for her, retribution for a long-ago crime that only he remembers. For Valentine, vengeance will be complete. For Jill Talbot, the terror has just begun. Wherever she runs, he will find her. And soon she will meet him on his terrible day of judgment. His triumphant day. Her darkest day.  Valentine's Day. 

I was hooked on this story from the get go. The plot premise is about a nasty practical joke that went wrong and the long time repercussions of the joke. I would not say that the book is a horror/slasher novel as the movie turned out to be. It is a novel of terror, suspense and a psychological thriller all rolled into one glorious story. The chapters alternated the point of view from Jillian to the killer. It was impossible to figure out the identity of the killer until the author tells us his name late in the story. Not wanting to be a spoiler, I am refraining from telling you more about the plot. Just take note that Valentine is a must read.

I cannot imagine that any other book that I end up reading this year can top this one. 10 out of 5 stars!

The Winthrop Woman

I selected this historical novel because I thought that my ancestors might be in it. The book is a historical biography of Elizabeth Fones Winthrop, daughter-in-law to John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. My people were cousins to John Winthrop and lived in the same English village as the Winthrops. Lavenham is also known as the birthplace of Harry Potter. Yes, my people are in the book and some of them traveled with Governor Winthrop in 1630 to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the Arbella. I highlighted my copy of the book each time an ancestor was mentioned.

The Winthrop Woman was published in 1958. Elizabeth Fones was the niece of Governor John Winthrop and she married her cousin Harry Winthrop, which gave her prestige among the Puritan set. Elizabeth was a Puritan in name only. She scandalized her family and community with brazen behavior such as sleeping with a cousin before marriage, necessitating the marriage. Before her marriage Elizabeth blasphemed God during a conversation at home and was flogged in front of the entire family and household staff. She became areligious after the flogging and despised her uncle Winthrop for demanding that she receive the beating. Although Elizabeth was in love with her cousin Jack, she agreed to marry Edward Howes after Jack left England. She broke that engagement after dillydallying with Jack's brother Harry. At first, Elizabeth and Harry were happy in their marriage but Harry was an alcoholic and a spendthrift. When Jack returns to England he is shocked that Elizabeth did not wait for him, even though he never told her of his desire for her. Elizabeth still loves Jack but is stuck with Harry. In order to tame his son, Governor Winthrop demands Harry move to the new world with him. On the way, Harry is drowned. Elizabeth follows him to the colonies, not aware that she was a widow. She is unable to abide by societal rules here either, maintaining her damning reputation.

I was surprised that Governor Winthrop became more conservative after emigrating to Massachusetts Bay Colony. He wanted to please the colonists who were already on American soil. The Separatists in Plymouth Bay were much more conservative than the Dissenters in Massachusetts and, being politically ambitious, Winthrop did whatever he had to do in order to be re-elected as the Governor of Massachusetts Bay. Sound familiar? He was cruel toward anyone who opposed him and loved to think up punishments for alleged wrongdoers. You didn't have to actually violate the law to be accused of wrongful acts. Sound familiar again? Some of these acts included celebrating Christmas, which Winthrop celebrated when he lived in Lavenham. However, his conservative views became radicalized as he gained more and more power. I had been taught in elementary school to idolize these first Americans but their personal foibles are fully on display here. Their politics are no different than the brash politics of today with everyone distrusting everyone else. As the saying goes, the more things change the more they stay the same. 

This historical novel was very readable even though it was written over 60 years ago. I loved reading about the people who began this American experiment. I was struck, though, by the similarity of our politics in the initial 25 years on our continent with the politics of today. There is no difference. During the first three elections for selectmen and governor, Governor Winthrop and his buddies changed the voting boundaries to ensure that only their kind of Puritan was elected. There was also alot of name calling.  I can only conclude that we are what we have always been. As for our Elizabeth, she was only able to get away with her misconduct because of her affiliation with Winthrop.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Girl in the Painting

At 495 pages, this epic story of India more than meets the requirements for the Chunkster Challenge. Four alternating plots are gathered together in this captivating story. One plot takes place in 1913 where our heroine Margaret is growing up in Charleston, England. During the same time, Archana is growing up in India. In 1926, Margaret has fallen in love with her new husband Suraj and his native country, India. Having moved from England to India after Suraj obtained his law degree, the couple moved to his parent's home after their sudden deaths. In 2000, Emma McEwen plans to divorce her husband and seeks solace from her grandmother Margaret, now back in England.  

The publisher's summary:

India, 1926:  Margaret is in love, with her new husband and her new home, a sprawling villa amidst beautiful rolling hills, the air filled with the soft scent of spices and hibiscus flowers. Yet, she's unwelcome with the locals and grows close to Archana, her maid, who reminds Margaret of the beloved sister she lost in the great war.  

Overjoyed with her pregnancy, Margaret could stay forever, sipping tea, chatting with Archana, painting in the sun beside the stream full of water lilies. But when Archana finds herself in danger and Margaret makes the choice to save her, she doesn't realize the devastating consequences that will tear her and Archana apart, destroy her marriage, and haunt her for the rest of her life.

England, 2000:  Emma's relationship is falling apart, and her beloved grandmother, Margaret, is dying.  Margaret has one last request:  find Archana.  It's the first time Emma has even heard the name, but desperate for an escape and to bring Margaret closure, she travels deep into the heart of the Indian hills, to a crumbling house overgrown with vines, searching for answers.  

The more Emma learns, the more she sees of herself in her grandmother, and the stronger her need to uncover Margaret's secret.  But if she finds Archana and the truth is finally revealed - the story of a day spent painting by the stream, and a betrayal that tore three lives to pieces - can it help each woman find peace or are some rifts too deep to heal?

For the first time, an English town sounds appealing to me. Charleston, where Margaret met with fellow artists, was a place that intellectuals and artists of every persuasion met to discuss the arts. It was enlightening for Margaret. The cacophony of Bombay even feels appealing to me even though I don't like alot of noise. It seems charming though. I can smell the food being sold in the market places. Margaret, however, must have a few allergies because she initially cannot handle the smells and always has a coughing fit. It amazes me that writers can make a place that I don't think I would like seem so romantic. India has always captured my imagination even though I have my own allergies to outdoor fragrances and cannot stand noise. These are great writers who can accomplish this.

The Emma character did not do much for me but Margaret and Archana were interesting characters. I cannot pick which one I like the most. Both had awful upbringings but Archana was poor because she married an untouchable so she suffered much more both emotionally and physically. Her culture was harsher toward women who did not fit into the expected mold. I felt bad that society demanded that she keep her feelings bottled up but Margaret had a choice. She chose to mess up her marriage and I am not sure what in her background made her do so. Did she just not have decent enough life skills?  Suraj was a dream boat. However, he was a secondary character. The book is really about Margaret and Archana.

All in all, The Girl in the Painting was a captivating story. I highly recommend it to historical fiction fans.  5 out of 5 stars.

2022 Chunkster Reading Challenge

I am rejoining the Chunkster Reading Challenge again next year.  I have always loved large books, especially those hard cover ones that I can hold.  Ebooks don't do much for me when I am reading a chunky. There is something satisfying about holding a big book.

Challenge Rules:  

1.  The challenge runs the calendar year from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.

2.  Books must be 450 pages or more to be considered a chunkster. 

3.  Any book qualifies for the challenge. It can be an adult book or young adult book.

4.  The books can be hard copy, e-books, or an audio book.

5.  Rereads are welcome as are crossovers with other challenges. 

6.  A blog is NOT required to participate. 

7.  There is no set number of books to read.