Captivating Character of the Month: September

Hai Ang from The Daughters of Shangdong is my captivating character of the month. There is so much to say about her.

Name of Captivating Character: Hai Ang 

The reason she is captivating: brave, long-suffering, resilient, loyal, strong willed

Book and Author: The Daughters of Shangdong by Eve Chung

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Chinese Civil War 

Mood: Anguish 

Content Considerations: violence by Mao Zedong's Red Guards upon the Chinese citizens 

Hai Ang is the oldest daughter of the Ang family. When the family learns that the Nationalists are running away to Taiwan, they know that the advancing communist army will kill them because they are wealthy. Hai's grandmother hatches a plan to flee their village but refuses to allow Hai's mother to come. She is left behind with her daughters. Barely a day goes by before the communists reach the village. Because Hai's mother has helped everyone in the village with money and was pleasant to them even though the Ang family were rich. This was unusual for the era. Because she was nice to them, all of the villagers supported the remaining family members when interrogated by the communists. While the family estate was taken over by the communists, the communists allowed Hai and her family to live with another villager. 

Poor Hai was publicly interrogated by the Red Guards and was struck several times. She sustained a life long injury to her knees from having to kneel for hours by the guards. Hai actually passed out before she was allowed to go home. 

The Ang family began to travel to a port where they could get a ship to Taiwan and meet up with the rest if the family. This involved walking for days and weeks. A few times they were lucky to travel in a truck that was passing by on the road. Hai endured a lot of pain and suffering in order to be free. Parts of her story were hard to read. I don't believe that I could have gone through anything like this. She sure was a strong woman.

Captivating Character of the Month:August

I was captivated by the story about Ellie Chang in The Young Will Remember novel. Ellie was a Chinese American journalist who took huge risks by traveling to battle sites in North Korea. After her military plane crashed, a woman who saw the crash mistook Ellie for her long lost daughter. Emma talked her into walking to Emma’s home for safety. Unfortunately the home was located in the very north of North Korea near the Chinese border. Ellie was stuck there for two years before she was able to enter Hong Kong and return home to California. How did she get to Hong Kong? By walking to South Korea and catching a boat. She walked through towns and villages during American bombing raids in order to get home. 

Name of Captivating Character: Ellie Chang 

The reason she is captivating: risk-taker, brave, reslient

Book and Author: The Young Will Remember by Eve Chung

Genre/Categories/Setting: historical fiction, survival and escape, Korea (1950-1951)

Mood: suspenseful, tense, fear

Content Considerations: dialogue on comfort women 

So my friends, who is your captivating character of the month?

Captivating Character of the Month: July

It should be obvious who my captivating character of the month is. It's our sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln! I have been captivated by this man ever since I can remember and have read many books about him over the years. For most of the twentieth century the only biography of Lincoln that was available was written by Carl Sandburg. Everyone I know LOVED that book. Then came David Herbert Donald's biography; another fantastic book that everyone in my sphere read and discussed. In the past two years several additional books have been published. John Cribb's The Rail Splitter, Lincoln's Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis, Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard and Jon Meacham's And There Was Light. All of these books were phenomenal. Also, a biography of the Booth family, Lincoln's assassin, was published by Karen Fowler. It seems that even today we cannot get enough of Honest Abe.

This month I read The Rail Splitter, Lincoln's Lady Spymaster, Courting Mr. Lincoln and Booth. I have learned about different aspects of Lincoln's life from each of them. The Rail Splitter gives more information about his childhood. The Lincoln family moved often and after the death of his mother, the baptist church greatly influenced him. From the church he gained his abolitionist views. Courting Mr. Lincoln tells us about his attraction to Mary Todd. This book shows me how ahead of his time Lincoln was. Mary Todd was the daughter of a wealthy man and you would expect her to have many suitors. However, she was too forthcoming in giving her opinions on politics which turned off many men. Lincoln was different though. He not only enjoyed listening to her but needed her expert political strategy in order to get elected to all of the offices he held. Their marriage was a political union. In Booth we learn that most of the family liked Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth didn't and assassinated him. And There Was Light revealed the depths of depression to which he succumbed. The book tells us that there were seven events in Lincoln's life that made him suicidal. While I knew he suffered depression I had no idea that his friends and family had to watch over him to prevent Lincoln from killing himself. How odd that history records that his wife is the one who is mentally unstable.

I can never get enough of reading about this man. Having grown up in Illinois, my education about Lincoln began in kindergarten. I am probably going to re-read Sandburg and Donald's biographies fairly soon and perhaps it's time for a visit to the Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL.

Captivating Character of the Month: June

I love Maggie Calloway from the cozy mystery novel Ice Cold Body by Kelli Fudge. She is a fantastic amateur sleuth in her new hometown in Alaska. This book is the first book in a series that is simply a must read. It’s that good.

I find Maggie to be a captivating character because as a retired teacher, she uses her teaching skills to read right through her new neighbors. Her skills at controlling uncontrollable children is transferable here in Alaska. It was amusing to read Maggie's inner thoughts on how to handle a few difficult neighbors. She would remember a former student who behaved the same way and dealt with the neighbor in the same way that she handled the student. Brilliant! Maggie worked closely with a librarian in order to solve the crime. These two ladies are unstoppable and I can't wait to read more of their capers.

Ice Cold Body is light reading for those of us looking for fun, quick reads. It hit the spot for me during a tense week in my life.

Captivating Character of the Month: May

My captivating character of the month is Debbie Mullen from Freida McFadden's Dear Debbie. Debbie is both the protagonist and the villain of the story. She writes an advice column for a local newspaper similar to the Dear Abby columns I read while growing up. 

When the story began Debbie was frequently featured at social events with friends. Nothing untoward was obvious. She attended a monthly book club with neighbors living on her block who openly disparaged her lack of class and higher education. Debbie desperately wants to fit in and accepts this mistreatment as necessary in order to climb the social ladder. Later these friends begin to ridicule her intense behavior behind her back. They gossip about rumors that she spent a few months in a psychiatric hospital. Yeah, Debbie is nuts.

Most of the chapters begin with drafts of her column wherein she suggests that the complaining women kill their husbands. The reader doesn't know if the drafts were eventually published until the halfway point in the story where we read she was fired for suggesting murder in a column that had been published. Debbie’s psycho behavior takes off from here. Anyone who hurt her husband or kids ended up dead. Debbie was always back in form the next day being way too cheerful and overdoing the housewife duties.

I agree with the revenge that Debbie plotted on her adversaries. They were definitely deserving of everything they received. Maybe I'm nuts too.

Captivating Character of the Month: April

My captivating character of the month for April is Elizabeth Barton. She is a real life person who is the protagonist of The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown. 

Name of Captivating Character: Elizabeth 

The reason she is captivating: determined, manipulated, consistent, emotional, reliable, steady, bold, flawed

Book and Author: The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N Brown 

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction

Mood: fearful

Content Considerations: graphic depiction of Elizabeth’s execution at Tyburn Tree

Elizabeth Barton lived in the 1500s during the reign of Henry VIII. She claimed to have seen visions of purgatory and hell. Priests and Bishops used her visions to try to reign in Henry VIII and keep him in the Catholic faith. She was presented to Henry twice. Each time Elizabeth boldly spoke her warnings to him concerning his desire to marry Anne Boleyn. She was aware of the risks to her life by making these statements. She did it anyway because she felt strongly about it. A priest wrote a book containing her visions but they were embellished without her knowledge in order to pursue his political desires. This book was widely distributed. Elizabeth was illiterate and was not able to read the book.  She was in her late teens when she received her first vision and was twenty eight years old when she was executed. Elizabeth never wavered in her belief that her visions were true.

So, who is your captivating character of the month?

Captivating Character of the Month: March

The Captivating Character of the Month is a weekly meme hosted by the Reading Ladies blog. The meme runs on the fourth Friday of every month where participants can link their posts. Lisan Liu from Janie Chang's historical fiction novel The Fourth Princess is my captivating character of the month for March. The novel was recently published on February 10, 2026. Lisan is a Shanghai orphan who was raised by a wealthy benefactor. Master Liu made sure that Lisan was educated. He wanted Lisan to serve in his household after her graduation. Lisan had other plans. She wanted to get a job and use her management and English skills. Lisan was a plucky girl who obtained an interview with Caroline Stanton to be her secretary. She desperately wanted this job and was lucky enough to get it. Without any fear, Lisan left the Liu home and moved into the Stanton estate. It was unusual for a girl to be that independent but Lisan definitely had this trait.

Lisan proved to be indispensable. She understood the Chinese staff and all of their superstitions. She was able to explain to the Stantons why they acted as they did. Lisan was bold in her approach to the job and sometimes I felt that she knew that she was stronger than Caroline Stanton and that she knew better than her employer. Frankly, she did. 

I am much older than Lisan Liu was in the story. However, I am still not as bold as Lisan. I wish that I was. She was a go-getter and always successful in her endeavors.  Lisan deserves to be my captivating character of the month.

Captivating Character of the Month: February

April Masterson is my captivating character of the month for February. April is the protagonist of the psychological thriller Want to Know a Secret. Captivating isn't the best adjective to describe her though. Twisted would be better. This lady must have a personality disorder or two. 

The story opened spectacularly with YouTuber April Masterson receiving a threatening text message from an anonymous person. This person is close enough to April's house to see what's happening in her backyard. The text states that her son Bobby was not where April thought he was at. April had been distracted while filming an episode of her baking channel and she wasn't watching him. A frantic search by April and husband Elliott only ended when April knocked on a new neighbor's door. She was about to ask new neighbor Maria if she had seen her son when April eyes him playing with Maria's son Owen in their living room. 

April continued to receive anonymous texts but then began receiving negative comments on her You Tube videos. She appears to the outside world as the perfect woman. I fell for it in the beginning of the story but after awhile it seemed that something was off. No one is that perfect. April's new neighbor Maria definitely gives off bad vibes and we are led to believe that Maria might be the villain who is sending the text messages. I fell for that too. Initially it appeared that Maria had more secrets than April but then came Part 2.

This story is a perfect psychological thriller. It was hard to tell who all the psychopaths were. April, Maria and April's bestie all had secrets and I think all three of them were twisted. The ending of the book was shocking to put it mildly. I highly recommend that you read the book and get to know these ladies.

Captivating Character of the Month: January

This meme is hosted by Carol at the Reading Ladies blog. On the last Friday of the month, she writes a post about her most captivating character of the month and creates a Link Party on that post. 

The priestess Joia in Ken Follett's Circle of Days is my most captivating character for January. Joia was appropriately named. She is a joyful person who believes that anything is possible. If it wasn't for this trait Stonehenge would never have been built.

Some background on the story is necessary. Circle of Days takes place in 2500 BCE in England. It is a fictional account of how Stonehenge could have been constructed. The book opens with the character Seft experiencing abuse from his flint making father and brothers. He decides to escape his family and runs toward the herding community. Seft settles there and marries the love of his life Neen. Neen’s sister is Joia. Joia becomes prominent in the book when she decides to join the priestesses who dance around a wooden monument.

After the wooden monument is destroyed, Joia dreams of building a new one, one that is permanent. However, the lead priestess opposes the idea. When the leader of the priestesses dies, Joia campaigns to take her place. She gets her wish when the priestesses elect her to be their leader. One of the reasons why Joia is overwhelmingly elected is her friendliness toward her fellow priestesses. They all love her. 

Joia is a woman with vision and an ability to lead. Her vision of a stone monument inspires Seft to come up with ideas on how it could be built. Her fellow priestesses follow her wholeheartedly in this challenge. All of us know someone like Joia so it stands to reason that she is my favorite character of the month.

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