Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson

Reviewed from Kindle

by Miranda Emmerson

Sadly, I found this book to be somewhat confusing, at times I wasn't sure what exactly it was trying to be. A leading actress disappears and doesn't come back for the next performance, nor any other performance. Her dresser Anna Treadway is beside herself trying to locate the actress or a reason for her disappearance and is understandably worried.

I think my confusion stems from timing, this is the '60s in London, not the '20s or '40s and I found myself floundering with the realization that at times I wasn't sure what decade I was in. The basic missing person and hunt for her is seemingly easy enough to deal with, but so many characters who all seem to be gravely concerned and want to help Anna, just seem to complicate matters. They are all from different cultures and also appear to want to be in the background as much as possible for racial reasons and the book seems to segue into their individual fears and hidden lives.

I was prepared to really enjoy this book, it seemed lively and fun but quickly changed. Anna, who it would seem is cast as poor and class-ridden actually takes charge of the search, but gradually takes on other so-called "different" friends in her search, I think the book is trying too hard to cover too many racial, sexual, and similar prejudices and loses its way, with the exception of Anna, who appears to become stronger as time goes by. Granted, I don't know the country's judicial approach to some of the problems, but they seemed to come from a different time. I really wanted to like this book, it would be a great mystery, if there weren't so many characters with their own idiocyncrasies and problems in the way. As a first novel, I would encourage the author to consider whether she wants more mystery (though there was a good mystery and some surprises) and/or reduce some of the parade of extraneous bit-players. (This last comment comes from my perception while reading; the author, in fact, has taken on a very full story for her first novel and I will happily attempt another story by her).

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne

Published by Doubleday Canada

This book touched a chord with me. Although it takes place in World War I, I felt memories return to me at the same age as Alfie; mine from World War II. John Boyne is spot on with this story and has a fantastic ability to recreate this time period and the horrors that went with it, without losing sight of his youthful audience.  This book is suggested for the 9 to 12 year range, but I believe it would be interesting to a wider range.

Alfie is an only child and has just had his fifth birthday as the story begins. This is his story, but also the story of all London where suddenly all the Dads are off to war, Mothers off to work and/or taking in work and children left alone. Alfie's best friend Kalena Janacek and her father have been sent away to the Isle of Wight to an internment camp, his Dad Georgie is at war and his Dad's best friend Joe as a conscientious objector, a conchie as they call him, is dragged off to jail and badly beaten. All life as he knew it is changed, and changed him with it.

Alfie decides he should do his part, too, so he takes Mr. Janacek's shoeshine kit and starts working at the train station, skipping school three days a week. This is a tale of survival, constant fear and worry, death, innovation and love of family. When letters no longer come from Georgie, Alfie's father, he believes the worst. His mother tries to ease his fears by telling him he can't write because he is on a secret mission but Alfie doesn't believe her.

Chance is a strange thing. While Alfie, now nine, is shining the shoes of a well-dressed man at the station, a wind happens to gust through the station and catch all the papers the man is holding. Alfie rushes to collect them all and chances to see his father listed as a patient at a hospital in England. From this point on the story veers as Alfie plots to see his father. This story is very well-written, compelling and compassionate, as much as a coming of age story. Alfie's complicated plans are admirable if ill-conceived. In a four year period, many things can change, and especially with children, who always seem to grow up too soon, but during war often become grown up through necessity as Alfie did. With love, though, anything is possible.

The Library Paradox by Catherine Shaw

This book is interesting in that it is a work of fictional mathematical mystery. That said, it is a murder mystery with a substantial history of the Jewish community, particularly in East London, in the 19th century. Catherine Shaw has done a great deal of research into this time period. Here we have a heroine very much ahead of her time, Vanessa Weatherburn, a young mother of two toddlers who is also an amateur detective. Fans of Anne Perry’s Charlotte Pitt series will relate to this character who has an ability to mix and mingle while collecting information.

The Library Paradox is not just the title of the book, it is an actual mathematical paradox concerning a catalogue of catalogues. In this case, the book title also represents the fact that the murder took place in a library and paradoxically no one could have done the crime. The murder victim is a fiercely, almost insanely anti-Semitic professor of high standing. With no witnesses to the actual murder but 3 witnesses to the aftermath and one person on the walkway heading the other direction when the shot was heard, no amount of tests of timing could put any of them on the spot at the exact moment of the shooting. The professor himself had an exceptional number of enemies, and therein lies the dilemma of discovering a suspect.

In the course of events, many real crimes against Jews are mentioned, including the Dreyfus Affair, famous in French history, and it is soon discovered that the professor had a hand in the conviction of two Jews in the "ritual" murder of an 11 year old boy, James Wilson. There are several seemingly unrelated issues throughout the book, but it holds itself together. The segments pertaining to tracking down an elderly rabbi, or rebbe as the Hasidic community refers to him, is quite entertaining in an odd way. Did I like the book? Yes, I enjoyed it enough that I would read another of Catherine Shaw’s books, but I personally felt it was a little dragged out in spots, particularly at the beginning, but it took all my attention once the actual drama began. Still, I recommend it for its adventures into a time and place we do not often hear about, and for a sound and satisfying mystery.